NBN Book of the Day

NBN Book of the Day

episodes

One book selected daily from those published on the New Books Network.

Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul, "Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)

August 9, 2026

Becoming Utopia

Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest (U Nebraska Press, 2026) centers on the tiny community of Bishop Hill,…

Edward T. G. Anderson, "Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism" (Oxford UP, 2024)

August 8, 2026

Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora

Edward T. G. Anderson
Hosted by Sachin Nikarge

Hindu nationalism is transforming India as an increasingly dominant ideology and political force. But it is also a global phenomenon, with sections of…

Max Perry Mueller, "Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West" (Basic Books, 2025)

August 7, 2026

Wakara's America

Max Perry Mueller
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

In the mid-19th century, anyone who was anyone in the American West had heard of the Ute leader Wakara. Yet, by the early twenty first century, his st…

Georgia Kernell, "Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

August 6, 2026

Inside Parties

Georgia Kernell
Hosted by Satyaki Barua

Inside Parties: How Party Rules Shape Membership and Responsiveness (Cambridge UP, 2025) by Georgia Kernell examines how party rules determine how par…

Carly Thomsen, "Reproductive Justice, Queerly" (U California Press, 2026)

August 5, 2026

Reproductive Justice, Queerly

Carly Thomsen
Hosted by Yining Pan

Queer theory and reproductive justice need each other—now more than ever. As liberals and leftists increasingly frame reproductive justice in terms of…

Valena Beety, "Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity" (New Press, 2026)

August 4, 2026

Pink Crime

Valena Beety
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A woman miscarries—and is charged with murder. A new mother tests positive for a drug her hospital administered—and loses custody of her newborn. Four…

James W. Cortada, "Beyond the Facts: Tacit Knowledge and the Hidden Infrastructure of Our Informed Times" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

August 3, 2026

Beyond the Facts

James W. Cortada
Hosted by Michael LaMagna

Beyond the Facts: Tacit Knowledge and the Hidden Infrastructure of Our Informed Times (Bloomsbury, 2025) describes tacit knowledge, what it is, how …

Luca Anceschi, "Pandemic Politics in Central Asia: Authoritarian Contagion" (Routledge, 2026)

August 2, 2026

Pandemic Politics in Central Asia

Luca Anceschi
Hosted by Adam Quinn

Pandemic Politics in Central Asia: Authoritarian Contagion (Routledge, 2026) examines how the authoritarian regimes of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and U…

Virginia McGee Richards, "The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway" (MIT Press, 2026)

August 1, 2026

The Inner Passage

Virginia McGee Richards
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Some of the earliest canals in colonial America, referred to as the Inner Passage, were constructed by enslaved people living in the Lowcountry of Sou…

Murat C. Yildiz, "The Ottoman World of Sports: Refashioning Bodies, Men, and Communities in Late Imperial Istanbul" (U Texas Press, 2026)

July 31, 2026

The Ottoman World of Sports

Murat C. Yildiz
Hosted by Reuben Silverman

The history of sports in Turkey is deeply contested. Over the decades, journalists, pundits, non-professional historians, sports scholars, and everyda…

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman, "The Fictional Female Presidency in Film, Television, and Literature: Representations from 1932 to 2024" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

July 30, 2026

The Fictional Female Presidency in Film, Television, and Literature

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman has a new book out that focuses on the reality of women running for president in the United States, and the fictional repre…

Steven K. Green, "American Infidelity: The Gilded Age Battle Over Freethought, Free Love, and Feminism" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 29, 2026

American Infidelity

Steven K. Green
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Today I'm speaking with Steven K. Green, Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies at Willamette Unive…

Paul Langley and Andrew Leyshon, "Fintech Capital: The Digital Transformation of Everyday Money and Finance" (Princeton UP, 2026)

July 28, 2026

Fintech Capital

Paul Langley and Andrew Leyshon
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How is finance changing in the contemporary world? In FinTech Capital: The Digital Transformation of Everyday Money and Finance (Princeton University …

Claire Hubbard-Hall, "Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024)

July 27, 2026

Her Secret Service

Claire Hubbard-Hall
Hosted by Luca Trenta

Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contribu…

Mitra Sharafi, "Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 25, 2026

Fear of the False

Mitra Sharafi
Hosted by Saumya Dadoo

Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia (Cornell University Press, 2026) uncovers colonial South Asia's critic…

Lily Kelting, "Against Heritage: The Reinvention of Traditional Foods" (UNC Press, 2026)

July 24, 2026

Against Heritage

Lily Kelting
Hosted by Kelly Spivey

The rise of “heritage” foods—that is, the reinvention of traditional foods—has enjoyed a high profile thanks to the oft-praised efforts of chefs such …

Julia R. Azari, "Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History" (Princeton UP, 2025)

July 23, 2026

Backlash Presidents

Julia R. Azari
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Julia Azari, Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, has a new, award-winning[*] book centering on the connection between race and th…

Nick Yablon, "From the Skyscraper to the Wildflower: C. G. Hine's 1905 Photographic Survey of Broadway" (Columbia UP, 2026)

July 22, 2026

From the Skyscraper to the Wildflower

Nick Yablon
Hosted by Robert Snyder

In 1905, when Broadway was already the most famous thoroughfare in New York City, a recreational photographer from Newark, New Jersey named Charles Gi…

R. Joseph Parrott, "Dream the Size of Freedom: How African Liberation Mobilized New Left Internationalism" (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

July 21, 2026

Dream the Size of Freedom

R. Joseph Parrott
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dream the Size of Freedom: How African Liberation Mobilized New Left Internationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) by Dr. R. Joseph Parrot…

Ian J. McNiven, "Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals" (UP Florida, 2026)

July 20, 2026

Sentient Seas

Ian J. McNiven
Hosted by Natali Pearson

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global pe…