Buy Books Here | Help Support the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!

New Books Network
Off the Page: A Columbia UP Podcast
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones November 26, 2023

The Future of Innovation

A Discussion with Min W. Jung

Min W. Jung

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Humans have been so dominant on Earth in large part because of their capacity to innovate – but how does that work exactly? Why can they innovate so much? That …

Off the Page: A Columbia UP Podcast

Subscribe:

Interviews with Columbia University Press authors.

Political Science November 24, 2023

The Rural Voter

The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America

Daniel Shea and Nicholas F. Jacobs

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The widening gulf between rural and urban America is becoming the most serious political divide of our day. Support for Democrats, up and down the ballot, has plummeted throughout the …
Food November 22, 2023

Spoiled

The Myth of Milk as Superfood

Anne Mendelson

Hosted by Melek Firat Altay
Why is cows' milk, which few nonwhite people can digest, promoted as a science-backed dietary necessity in countries where the majority of the population is lactose-intolerant? Why are gigantic new …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones November 20, 2023

The Future of the Rural-Urban Divide

A Discussion with Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea

Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The town/countryside split has always been a feature of democratic Western politics and has impacted party choice. The advent of rust belts may have added a layer of complexity and …
Chinese Studies October 29, 2023

Fear of Seeing

A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction

Mingwei Song

Hosted by Julia Keblinska
I am talking today to Mingwei Song about his new book, Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction (Columbia UP, 2023). The book is a sweeping account of …
Higher Education October 26, 2023

Leveling the Learning Curve

Creating a More Inclusive and Connected University

William B. Eimicke, Soulaymane Kachani, and Adam Stepan

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Listen:
Will the COVID-19 pandemic be remembered as a turning point in how universities deliver teaching and learning? How might the widespread use of digital tools change higher education? Leveling the …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones October 24, 2023

The Future of Paying Attention

A Discussion with Carolyn Dicey Jennings

Carolyn Dicey Jennings

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Is it really harder to pay attention to something than it used to be? No doubt the world is getting faster, and social media platforms are so good at grabbing …
Japanese Studies October 23, 2023

Writing Violence

The Politics of Form in Early Modern Japanese Literature

David C. Atherton

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Listen:
Edo-period Japan was a golden age for commercial literature. A host of new narrative genres cast their gaze across the social landscape, probed the realms of history and the fantastic …
Science October 23, 2023

Cro-Magnon

The Story of the Last Ice Age People of Europe

Trenton W. Holliday

Hosted by Melek Firat Altay
Listen:
During the Last Ice Age, Europe was a cold, dry place teeming with mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, reindeer, bison, cave bears, cave hyenas, and cave lions. It was also the home …
Chinese Studies October 14, 2023

On the Edge

Feeling Precarious in China

Margaret Hillenbrand

Hosted by Julia Keblinska
Margaret Hillenbrand’s On the Edge: Feeling Precarious in China (Columbia UP, 2023) examines the negative cultural forms that have emerged in response to China’s exclusionary contemporary socioeconomic system. Hillenbrand considers …
Public Policy October 12, 2023

Rust Belt Union Blues

Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party

Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Listen:
In the heyday of American labor, the influence of local unions extended far beyond the workplace. Unions fostered tight-knit communities, touching nearly every aspect of the lives of members--mostly men--and …
Food October 9, 2023

Anxious Eaters

Why We Fall for Fad Diets

Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill

Hosted by Garrett Broad
Listen:
What makes fad diets so appealing to so many people? And how did these fads become so central to conversations about food and nutrition? Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for …
East Asian Studies October 5, 2023

Unsettling Exiles

Chinese Migrants in Hong Kong and the Southern Periphery During the Cold War

Angelina Chin

Hosted by Li-Ping Chen
Listen:
The conventional story of Hong Kong celebrates the people who fled the mainland in the wake of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. In this telling …
Asian Review of Books October 5, 2023

Baptizing Burma

Religious Change in the Last Buddhist Kingdom

Alexandra Kaloyanides

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Listen:
Adoniram Judson was the 19th-century version of an American celebrity. Americans flocked to listen to his tales of being one of the first missionaries to enter the Kingdom of Burma …
Buddhist Studies September 22, 2023

Buddhist Masculinities

Megan Bryson and Kevin Buckelew

Hosted by Jue Liang
Listen:
While early Buddhists hailed their religion's founder for opening a path to enlightenment, they also exalted him as the paragon of masculinity. According to Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha's body boasts …
Indian Religions September 6, 2023

The Bhagavata Purana

Sacred Text and Living Tradition

Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Listen:
Today I talked to Ravi Gupta and Kenneth Valpey about The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Columbia UP, 2013) A vibrant example of living literature, the Bhagavata Purana is a …
Islamic Studies September 1, 2023

Wives and Work

Islamic Law and Ethics Before Modernity

Marion Holmes Katz

Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani
Listen:
In this interview, I speak with Marion Holmes Katz about her latest book Wives and Work: Islamic Law and Ethics Before Modernity (Columbia UP, 2022). This fascinating book explores the …
Medicine August 28, 2023

From Whispers to Shouts

The Ways We Talk about Cancer

Elaine Schattner

Hosted by Ron Winslow
Listen:
The “war on cancer” was launched during the Nixon Administration in 1971, but the term was part of the national dialog on cancer at least early as 1913. Pink ribbons …
Asian Review of Books August 17, 2023

Modernity's Corruption

Empire and Morality in the Making of British India

Nicholas Hoover Wilson

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Listen:
When Robert Clive, the man who established Company rule in India was hauled in front of Parliament to answer for crimes of corruption, he allegedly responded by saying, essentially, he …
World Affairs August 5, 2023

Emerging Global Cities

Origin, Structure, and Significance

Alejandro Portes and Ariel C. Armony

Hosted by Aleem Mahabir
Certain cities—most famously New York, London, and Tokyo—have been identified as “global cities,” whose function in the world economy transcends national borders. Without the same fanfare, formerly peripheral and secondary …