About Elena McGrath

Elena McGrath is an Assistant Professor of History at Union College

NBN Episodes hosted by Elena:

Javier Puente, "The Rural State: Making Comunidades, Campesinos, and Conflict in Peru's Central Sierra" (U Texas Press, 2022)

April 5, 2023

The Rural State

Javier Puente
Hosted by Elena McGrath

On the eve of the twentieth century, Peru seemed poised for prosperity and development. Both foreign capitalists and local elites imagined that the hi…

Sarah T. Hines, "Water for All: Community, Property, and Revolution in Modern Bolivia" (U California Press, 2021)

November 2, 2022

Water for All

Sarah T. Hines
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Sarah T. Hines's Water for All Community, Property, and Revolution in Modern Bolivia (University of California Press, 2021) chronicles how Bolivians d…

Frederico Freitas, "Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

August 26, 2022

Nationalizing Nature

Frederico Freitas
Hosted by Elena McGrath

In Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border (Cambridge UP, 2021), Frederico Freitas uncovers the crucial r…

Paul Adler, "No Globalization Without Representation: U.S. Activists and World Inequality" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021)

August 26, 2021

No Globalization Without Representation

Paul Adler
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Paul Adler's No Globalization Without Representation: U.S. Activists and World Inequality (U Pennsylvania Press, 2021) is a history of the hardworking…

Carmen Soliz, "Fields of Revolution: Agrarian Reform and Rural State Formation in Bolivia, 1935-1964" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2021)

August 9, 2021

Fields of Revolution

Carmen Soliz
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Fields of Revolution: Agrarian Reform and Rural State Formation in Bolivia, 1935-1964, published in 2021 by the University of Pittsburgh Press is a gr…

Luis Sierra, "La Paz's Colonial Specters: Urbanization, Migration, and Indigenous Political Participation, 1900-52" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

August 2, 2021

La Paz's Colonial Specters

Luis Sierra
Hosted by Elena McGrath

La Paz's Colonial Specters: Urbanization, Migration, and Indigenous Political Participation, 1900-52 (Bloomsbury, 2021) explores the urban history of …

Megan Ryburn, "Uncertain Citizenship: Everyday Practices of Bolivian Migrants in Chile" (U California Press, 2018)

April 23, 2021

Uncertain Citizenship

Megan Ryburn
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Megan Ryburn’s Uncertain Citizenship: Everyday Practices of Bolivian Migrants in Chile (University of California Press, 2018) is a multi-sited ethnogr…

Julie Gibbings, "Our Time is Now: Race and Modernity in Postcolonial Guatemala" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

November 9, 2020

Our Time is Now

Julie Gibbings
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Our Time is Now: Race and Modernity in Postcolonial Guatemala (Cambridge University Press, 2020) is an ambitious exploration of modernity, history, an…

Elizabeth Shesko, "Conscript Nation: Coercion and Citizenship in the Bolivian Barracks" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2020)

July 23, 2020

Conscript Nation

Elizabeth Shesko
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Elizabeth Shesko’s Conscript Nation: Coercion and Citizenship in the Bolivian Barracks (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) is an intimate and rich …

Natalie Kimball, "An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia" (Rutgers UP, 2020)

June 23, 2020

An Open Secret

Natalie Kimball
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Natalie Kimball is the author of An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia, out this year from Rutgers Universi…

Donald F. Stevens, "Mexico in the Time of Cholera" (U New Mexico Press, 2019)

June 2, 2020

Mexico in the Time of Cholera

Donald F. Stevens
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Donald F. Stevens offers us a portrait of early republican life in his new book, Mexico in the Time of Cholera, published in 2019 by the University of…

Ben Nobbs-Thiessen, "Landscape of Migration: Mobility and Environmental Change on Bolivia's Tropical Frontier, 1952 to the Present" (UNC Press, 2020)

May 28, 2020

Landscape of Migration

Ben Nobbs-Thiessen
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Landscape of Migration: Mobility and Environmental Change on Bolivia's Tropical Frontier, 1952 to the Present (UNC Press, 2020), traces the entwined h…

A. B. Chastain and T. W. Lorek, "Itineraries of Expertise: Science, Technology, and the Environment in Latin America" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2020)

April 23, 2020

Itineraries of Expertise

Andra B. Chastain and Timothy W. Lorek
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Emerging out of a 2016 conference, Andra Chastain and Timothy Lorek have brought together Environmental History, Latin American Studies, and Science a…

Jacob Blanc, "Before the Flood: The Itaipu Dam and the Visibility of Rural Brazil" (Duke UP, 2019)

April 22, 2020

Before the Flood

Jacob Blanc
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Jacob Blanc’s Before the Flood: The Itaipu Dam and the Visibility of Rural Brazil (Duke University Press, 2019) tells the story of the the Itaipu dam,…

Susan Ellison, "Domesticating Democracy: The Politics of Conflict Resolution in Bolivia" (Duke UP, 2018)

July 23, 2019

Domesticating Democracy

Susan Ellison
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Susan Ellison’s Domesticating Democracy: The Politics of Conflict Resolution in Bolivia (Duke University Press, 2018) explores the world of foreign-fu…

M. L. Mitma and J. P. Heilman, "Now Peru is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist" (Duke UP, 2016)

July 8, 2019

Now Peru is Mine

Manuel Llamojha Mitma and Jaymie Patricia Heilman
Hosted by Elena McGrath

Now Peru is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Duke University Press, 2016) tells the remarkable story of a campesino and indigenous po…

Niall Geraghty, "The Polyphonic Machine: Capitalism, Political Violence, and Resistance in Contemporary Argentine Literature" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2019)

May 30, 2019

The Polyphonic Machine

Niall Geraghty
Hosted by Elena McGrath

What options for resistance are left to the author of fiction in a nation structured by totalizing political and economic violence? This is the questi…