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- African Studies
- African American Studies
- American Politics
- American Studies
- American South
- American West
- Asian American Studies
- Australian and New Zealand Studies
- British Studies
- Canadian Studies
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- Central Asian Studies
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- Sociology
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- Big Ideas
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- Co-Authored
- Cover Story
- Historical Materialism
- History Ex Silo
- Interpretive Political and Social Science
- Invested Investor
- Landscape Architecture
- Mormonism
- NBN Book of the Day
- NBN Seminar
- New Books with Miranda Melcher
- On the Cusp: Between Strategy and Ethics
- Postscript: Conversations on Politics and Political Science
- Practical History
- Preparing for Life After Grad School
- Psychology and Climate Change
- Syriac Studies
- The Chair: In The Room at the Fed
- Oceanic Studies
About N'Kosi Oates
Dr. N'Kosi Oates is a curator. He earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Africana Studies from Brown University. His research engages African American culture, aesthetics, literature, and social history from Reconstruction to the 1980s. His work has been published in the National Review of Black Politics, Journal of Africana Religions, and Black Perspectives.
NBN Episodes hosted by N'Kosi:
March 10, 2026
Toni at Random
An insightful exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon's profound imp…
February 10, 2026
Baldwin: A Love Story
Baldwin: A Love Story (FSG, 2025) the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades, reveals how profoundly the writer’s personal relationsh…
October 21, 2025
Recipes from the American South
The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not reflect those of the New Books Network or its hosts. This episode contains some content that…
September 16, 2025
Braided Heritage
Discover the sweeping story of how Indigenous, European, and African traditions intertwined to form an entirely new cuisine, with over 90 recipes for …
August 19, 2025
Distinguishing Piss from Rain
An expansive volume featuring over two decades of incisive reflections on race, art and pop culture by one of the greatest artists working today This …
July 22, 2025
Prose to the People
Traversing teeming metropolises and tiny towns, Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores (Random House, 2025) explores these spaces, chr…
June 17, 2025
A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects
Ten beautifully illustrated essays tell the stories of handcrafted objects and their makers, providing inspiration and insight into Black history and …
May 27, 2025
The Battle for the Black Mind
A gripping chronicle of the relentless fight for Black educational freedom--and the bold strategies to protect, nourish, and empower Black minds. The …
April 22, 2025
Beyond Policing
What would happen if policing disappeared? Would we be safe? This book imagines a world without police. It's evident that policing is a problem. But …
March 19, 2025
Micaiah Carter
Over the past decade Micaiah Carter has established himself as one of the most exciting and admired young photographers working in the field of portra…
February 28, 2025
The Contemporary African Kitchen
The Contemporary African Kitchen: Home Cooking Recipes from the Leading Chefs of Africa (Phaidon Press, 2024) is an elegant collection of 120 home coo…
January 2, 2025
The Black Civil War Soldier
Photography emerged in the 1840s in the United States, and it became a visual medium that documents the harsh realities of enslavement. Similarly, the…
September 25, 2024
The Black Tax
In The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America (U Chicago Press, 2024), Andrew W. Kahrl uncovers the history of ineq…
August 14, 2024
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts
Poet Laureate of Kentucky Crystal Wilkinson’s food memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Count…
July 15, 2024
The New Brownies' Book
In 1920, W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP founders published The Brownies’ Book: A Monthly Magazine for Children of the Sun. A century later, The New Br…
June 8, 2024
Financial Institutions and Enslavement
In this special episode, we talk to two authors about the role of financial institutions in enslavement. Sharon Ann Murphy, associate professor of his…
May 13, 2024
The Sisterhood
The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture (Columbia University Press, 2023) explores how an incredible group of Bl…
April 13, 2024
The Simple Art of Rice
The Simple Art of Rice: Recipes from Around the World for the Heart of Your Table (Flatiron Books, 2023) is a cookbook celebrating the versatility of …
March 15, 2024
Failures of Forgiveness
From religion to popular culture, institutions and people have shaped how we conceive forgiveness. Myisha Cherry, associate professor of philosophy, a…
June 13, 2022
The Trayvon Generation
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander’s gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New…
April 14, 2022
The Sentences That Create Us
The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison (Haymarket Books, 2022) is an expansive resource for incarcerated writers. With over …
March 25, 2022
A Nation of Descendants
In A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History (University of North Carolina Press, 2021), historian Francesca Mor…
December 13, 2021
Black Food
James Beard and NAACP Image Award-winning chef and educator, Bryant Terry calls Black Food a “communal shrine to the shared culinary histories of the …
November 26, 2021
How the Word Is Passed
How do we narrate history, both the troubling past and what we chose to remember? Clint Smith sets out to wrestle with this question and its relations…