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

New Books Network

About Keith Krueger

Interests include comparative political systems, economic and business history and institutions. Degrees in business and public administration with an emphasis on public policy development.

Keith can be reached at keithNBn@gmail.com

NBN Episodes hosted by Keith:

Chinese Studies May 17, 2023

The Dean of Shandong

Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University

Daniel A. Bell

Hosted by Keith Krueger
I am not now nor at any time have ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Yet I serve as dean of a large faculty of political …
World Affairs May 6, 2023

Accidental Conflict

America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives

Stephen Roach

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Denial is a classic symptom of codependency ... Lacking a sense of self, codependent partners tend to be hypersensitive to criticism or negative feedback, preferring instead to deflect it onto …
Literary Studies April 17, 2023

Liberalism and American Literature in the Clinton Era

Ryan M. Brooks

Hosted by Keith Krueger
"In other words, like David Foster Wallace — who celebrates McCain for his display of “‘moral authority’” and commitment to “‘service’ and ‘sacrifice’ and ‘honor’” — Clinton responds to the …
Economics March 19, 2023

From China's Lost Generation to American Private Equity Professor

A Discussion with Weijian Shan

Weijian Shan

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Having lived through both China’s Great Leap Forward during primary school, then the Cultural Revolution and the closing of schools for ten years, Beijing-born Weijian Shan, instead of a secondary …
Politics & Polemics March 18, 2023

The Struggle for a Decent Politics

On "Liberal" as an Adjective

Michael Walzer

Hosted by Keith Krueger
The national purpose of the American state is to realize and then sustain the democracy and the equality that was the promise of our founding. I believe that requires perennial …
Intellectual History January 18, 2023

We the Elites

Why the US Constitution Serves the Few

Robert Ovetz

Hosted by Keith Krueger
We have been ruled long enough. It is time to govern ourselves. If we are to get past the Constitution and all systems based on constitutions, we need to move …
Intellectual History December 28, 2022

Freedom's Dominion

A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power

Jefferson Cowie

Hosted by Keith Krueger
"History recalls Wallace’s inaugural address as a set piece in the larger drama of defending Southern segregation, which it was. But the speech was about something even more profound, more …
Intellectual History November 23, 2022

Liberal Freedom

Pluralism, Polarization, and Politics

Eric MacGilvray

Hosted by Keith Krueger
The liberalism that is defended here is therefore itself an object of political contestation, and not just the background against which such contestation takes place. If we can look to …
Eastern European Studies October 25, 2022

Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Europe

A Discussion with Monika Nalepa

Monika Nalepa

Hosted by Keith Krueger
An alienated society divided into groups and classes suspicious of one another does not pose an especially great problem for an authoritarian regime that does not legitimize itself through fair …
General History September 7, 2022

Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion

Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China After Stalin and Mao

Joseph Torigian

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Unfortunately, one takeaway for readers of this book should be the difficulty that not only outside analysts but even party insiders face when trying to understand elite politics in Leninist …
Intellectual History August 18, 2022

Solidarity in Conflict

A Democratic Theory

Rochelle DuFord

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Of all the concepts that form the constellation of modern political thought, surely “solidarity” is a strong candidate for the most challenging. At once influential and undertheorized, the concept of …
Intellectual History August 1, 2022

Social Science for What? (Part 2 of 2)

Battles over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation

Mark Solovey

Hosted by Keith Krueger
This is part two of a two part interview. Mark Solovey’s Social Science for What? is essential reading for anyone in either the history of science policy or the history of …
Intellectual History July 25, 2022

Social Science for What? (Part 1 of 2)

Battles over Public Funding for the "Other Sciences" at the National Science Foundation

Mark Solovey

Hosted by Keith Krueger
This is part one of a two part interview. "The social sciences have prospered best in the federal government where they have been included under broad umbrella classifications of the …
East Asian Studies May 17, 2022

Corruption Control in Authoritarian Regimes

Lessons from East Asia

Christopher Carothers

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Political corruption remains … one of the most intriguing and challenging issues in social science research and public policy, perhaps because although it occurs in virtually all polities, its causes …
Intellectual History April 21, 2022

A Brief History of Equality

Thomas Piketty

Hosted by Keith Krueger
There is no political power without control of the archive, if not of memory. Effective democratization can always be measured by this essential criterion: the participation in and the access …
Intellectual History March 30, 2022

Owning the Sun

A People's History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines

Alexander Zaitchik

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Although the dividing line between private life and public responsibilities can never be definite and clear, there is a moral threshold which is crossed both by those who assume power …
Intellectual History February 9, 2022

Albert O. Hirschman

An Intellectual Biography

Michele Alacevich

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Despite the virtually unanimous agreement about his importance, describing Hirschman’s legacy and influence on others is not an easy task— arguably because he was indeed in a league of his …
Chinese Studies December 21, 2021

Disaggregating China, Inc.

State Strategies in the Liberal Economic Order

Yeling Tan

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Once you understand that markets require public institutions of governance and regulation in order to function well, and further, you accept that nations may have different preferences over the shape …
Intellectual History July 12, 2021

Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle

Strategies, Tactics, Objectives

Robert Ovetz

Hosted by Keith Krueger
"The point of studying the world – including the past and other’s writings – is not just to understand it but to use that understanding to change it." – Harry …
Anthropology May 5, 2021

Wade Davis Discusses His Life and Work

Wade Davis

Hosted by Keith Krueger
"… I am an axe; And my son a handle, soon; To be shaping again, model; And tool, craft of culture; How we go on." - Gary Snyder, Axe Handles (1983) "… wisdom …
Chinese Studies February 19, 2021

Forgotten Ally

China's World War II, 1937–1945

Rana Mitter

Hosted by Keith Krueger
If we wish to understand the role of China in today’s global society, we would do well to remind ourselves of the tragic, titanic struggle which that country waged in …
Intellectual History October 20, 2020

A Foreign Policy for the Left

Michael Walzer

Hosted by Keith Krueger
In my old age, I try to argue more quietly, though I still believe that sharp disagreement is a sign of political seriousness. What engaged citizens think and say matters …
Intellectual History July 31, 2020

The Law of Political Economy

Transformation in the Function of Law

Poul Kjaer

Hosted by Keith Krueger
Legal and political theories are not descriptions of brute facts. Nor are they merely postulated ideals or aspirations. Theories reflect and are reflected in our social relationships … Moral and …
East Asian Studies June 29, 2020

Superpower Interrupted

The Chinese History of the World

Michael Schuman

Hosted by Keith Krueger
We stand on the eve of a different kind of world, but comprehending it is difficult: we are so accustomed to dealing with the paradigms of the contemporary world that …