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New Books Network

About Caleb Zakarin

Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network.

NBN Episodes hosted by Caleb:

Biography September 25, 2023

Walter Lippmann

American Skeptic, American Pastor

Mark Thomas Edwards

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Walter Lippmann was arguably the most recognized and respected political journalist of the twentieth century. His "Today and Tomorrow" columns attracted a global readership of well over ten million. Lippmann …
World Affairs September 24, 2023

Defectors

How the Illicit Flight of Soviet Citizens Built the Borders of the Cold War World

Erik R. Scott

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Defectors fleeing the Soviet Union seized the world's attention during the Cold War. Their stories were told in sensational news coverage and dramatized in spy novels and films. In contrast …
Sports September 23, 2023

Baseball

The Turbulent Midcentury Years

Steven P. Gietschier

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years (University of Nebraska Press, 2023) explores the history of organized baseball during the middle of the twentieth century, examining the sport on and off the …
Religion September 16, 2023

An Ethology of Religion and Art

Belief as Behavior

Bryan Rennie

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Drawing from sources including the ethology of art and the cognitive science of religion, An Ethology of Religion and Art: Belief as Behavior (Routledge, 2020) proposes an improved understanding of both art …
Media September 12, 2023

A Better Way to Buy Books

A Conversation with Andy Hunter, Founder and CEO, Bookshop.org

Andy Hunter

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Bookshop.org is an online book retailer that donates more than 80% of its profits to independent bookstores. Launched in 2020, Bookshop.org has already raised more than $27,000,000. In this interview …
Science September 8, 2023

Fascination of Science

60 Encounters with Pioneering Researchers of Our Time

Herlinde Koelbl

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
An intimate collection of portraits of internationally renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners, paired with interviews and personal stories. What makes a brilliant scientist? Who are the people behind the …
Sports September 6, 2023

Daybreak at Chavez Ravine

Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers

Erik Sherman

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Fernando Valenzuela was only twenty years old when Tom Lasorda chose him as the Dodgers' opening-day starting pitcher in 1981. Born in the remote Mexican town of Etchohuaquila, the left-hander …
Film September 6, 2023

Digging My Own Grave

The Films of Caveh Zahedi

Caveh Zahedi

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Digging My Own Grave: The Films of Caveh Zahedi (Factory 25, 2015) is the most comprehensive collection of filmmaker Caveh Zahedi possible with 36 films including: A Little Stiff, I Don’t …
Sports September 5, 2023

Upon Further Review

The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History

Mike Pesca

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
No announcer ever proclaimed: "Up Rises Frazier!" "Havlicek commits the foul, trying to steal the ball!" or "The Giants Lose the Pennant, The Giants Lose The Pennant!" Such moments are …
German Studies August 30, 2023

Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany

The Fragebogen Questionnaire and Political Screening During the Allied Occupation

Mikkel Dack

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
In the wake of the Second World War, the victorious Allied armies implemented a radical program to purge Nazism from Germany and preserve peace in Europe. Between 1945 and 1949 …
Science, Technology, and Society August 29, 2023

Fertility Technology

Donna J. Drucker

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
A concise overview of fertility technology—its history, practical applications, and ethical and social implications around the world. In the late 1850s, a physician in New York City used a syringe …
Scholarly Communication August 22, 2023

Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, and the Future of Academic Publishing

A Conversation with Avi Staiman

Avi Staiman

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Avi Staiman, CEO of Academic Language Experts discusses the how advancements in artificial intelligence are shaping academic publishing. Avi offers various solutions and remedies to concerns around misuse, in addition to …
Intellectual History August 19, 2023

Liberalism Against Itself

Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times

Samuel Moyn

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
By the middle of the twentieth century, many liberals looked glumly at the world modernity had brought about, with its devastating wars, rising totalitarianism, and permanent nuclear terror. They concluded …
World Affairs August 8, 2023

Wallerstein 2.0

Thinking and Applying World-Systems Theory in the 21st Century

Frank Jacob

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory can help to better understand and describe developments of the 21st century. The contributors of Wallerstein 2.0: Thinking and Applying World-Systems Theory in the 21st Century (Transcript …
Intellectual History August 4, 2023

Cross-Border Cosmopolitans

The Making of a Pan-African North America

Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Twentieth-century African American history cannot be told without accounting for the significant influence of Pan-African thought, just as the story of U.S. policy from 1900 to 2000 cannot be told …
American Studies August 3, 2023

A Nation of Veterans

War, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Modern America

Olivier Burtin

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
In examining how the veterans' movement inscribed martial citizenship onto American law, politics, and culture, A Nation of Veterans: War, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022) offers …
Intellectual History July 30, 2023

W. E. B. Du Bois

International Thought

Adom Getachew and Jennifer Pitts

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
W. E. B. Du Bois was one of the most significant American political thinkers of the twentieth century. This volume collects 24 of his essays and speeches on international themes …
Latino Studies July 29, 2023

Solidarity Across the Americas

The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-Imperialism

Margaret M. Power

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Throughout its quest for freedom from colonial rule, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (PNPR) created strategy through a solidarity that moved far beyond the archipelago. It invested significant energy, members …
Food July 16, 2023

Last Call at Coogan's

The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar

Jon Michaud

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The uniquely inspiring story of a beloved neighborhood bar that united the communities it served. Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed …
Critical Theory July 6, 2023

Ontologies of Violence

Deconstruction, Pacifism, and Displacement

Maxwell Kennel

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Ontologies of Violence: Deconstruction, Pacifism, and Displacement (Brill, 2023) provides a new paradigm for understanding the concept of violence through comparative interpretations of French philosopher Jacques Derrida, philosophical theologians in …
Political Science June 27, 2023

Why Congress

Philip A. Wallach

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
To achieve legitimate self-government in America's extended Republic, the U.S. Constitution depends on Congress harmonizing the country's factions through a process of conflict and accommodation. Why Congress (Oxford University Press, 2023) demonstrates …
Economics June 26, 2023

Economists at War

How a Handful of Economists Helped Win and Lose the World Wars

Alan Bollard

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
Wartime is not just about military success.  Economists at War: How a Handful of Economists Helped Win and Lose the World Wars (Oxford University Press, 2023) tells a different story - about a …
Finance June 21, 2023

The Money Revolution

How to Finance the Next American Century

Richard Duncan

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
In The Money Revolution: How to Finance the Next American Century, economist and bestselling author Richard Duncan lays out a farsighted strategy to maximize the United States' unmatched financial and …
Science June 16, 2023

Worlds Without End

Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Future of Humanity

Chris Impey

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Listen:
The science of finding habitable planets beyond our solar system and the prospects for establishing human civilization away from our ever-less-habitable planetary home. Planet Earth, it turns out, may not …