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About Caleb Zakarin

Caleb Zakarin is the Assistant Editor of the New Books Network (Twitter: @caleb_zakarin).

NBN Episodes hosted by Caleb:

Public Health August 11, 2022

Big Vape

The Incendiary Rise of Juul

Jamie Ducharme

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
It began with a smoke break. James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in between puffs after class they dreamed of a way to …
Politics & Polemics August 10, 2022

Paths of Dissent

Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Forever Wars

Andrew Bacevich and Daniel A. Sjursen

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Compiled by New York Times bestselling author Andrew Bacevich and retired army officer Danny A. Sjursen, Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars (Metropolitan Books, 2022) collects provocative …
Biography August 4, 2022

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas

Corey Robin

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Here are some things they …
Politics & Polemics August 3, 2022

Goliath

The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

Matt Stoller

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy (Simon & Schuster, 2019), Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time …
Scholarly Communication July 29, 2022

International Association of Genocide Scholars

A Discussion with Melanie O'Brien

Melanie O'Brien

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The International Association of Genocide Scholars is a global, interdisciplinary, non-partisan organization that seeks to further research and teaching about the nature, causes, and consequences of genocide, and advance policy …
Education July 27, 2022

Safe Enough Spaces

A Pragmatist's Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses

Michael S. Roth

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
From the president of Wesleyan University, a compassionate and provocative manifesto, Safe Enough Spaces (Yale UP, 2021) on the crises confronting higher education In this bracing book, Michael S. Roth stakes out …
Scholarly Communication July 25, 2022

Effective Altruism: What it is, What it Does, and How You Can Help

A Discussion with Benjamin Todd of "80,000 Hours"

Benjamin Todd

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
80,000 Hours provides research and support to help students and graduates switch into careers that effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems. Benjamin Todd is the president and co-founder of …
General History July 13, 2022

The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy

Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower

Michael Mandelbaum

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The United States is now nearly 250 years old. It arose from humble beginnings, as a strip of mostly agrarian and sparsely populated English colonies on the northeastern edge of …
Popular Culture July 8, 2022

Two Wheels Good

The History and Mystery of the Bicycle

Jody Rosen

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly at odds with our age of smartphones and ride-sharing apps and driverless cars. Yet we live on a bicycle planet …
Sociology June 21, 2022

Rough Draft of History

A Century of US Social Movements in the News

Edwin Amenta and Neal Caren

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Rough Draft of History: A Century of US Social Movements in the News (Princeton UP, 2022) offers a new view of U.S. social movement history across the twentieth century by …
Scholarly Communication May 25, 2022

The Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training

Scholarly Societies Series

Susan Rockwell Johnson and Margery B. Thompson

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
ADST has the world’s largest collection of U.S. diplomatic oral history. They have over 2,500 oral histories at ADST.org Susan Rockwell Johnson is the president of ADST since November 2016 …
Environmental Studies May 24, 2022

Whole Earth

The Many Lives of Stewart Brand

John Markoff

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Stewart Brand has long been famous if you know who he is, but for many people outside the counterculture, early computing, or the environmental movement, he is perhaps best known …
Political Science May 24, 2022

Out of Joint

Power, Crisis, and the Rhetoric of Time

Nomi Claire Lazar

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Today I talked to Nomi Claire Lazar about Out of Joint: Power, Crisis, and the Rhetoric of Time (Yale University Press, 2019). Drawing on stories of leaders and thinkers across a …
Environmental Studies May 24, 2022

Whole Earth

The Many Lives of Stewart Brand

John Markoff

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Stewart Brand has long been famous if you know who he is, but for many people outside the counterculture, early computing, or the environmental movement, he is perhaps best known …
Scholarly Communication May 12, 2022

The American Association of Geographers

Scholarly Societies Series

Emily Yeh

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located …
Environmental Studies May 10, 2022

Partial Hegemony

Oil Politics and International Order

Jeff D. Colgan

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
When and why does international order change? The largest peaceful transfer of wealth across borders in all of human history began with the oil crisis of 1973. OPEC countries turned …
General History May 3, 2022

The Presidency of Donald J. Trump

A First Historical Assessment

Julian E. Zelizer

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment (Princeton University Press, 2022) presents a first draft of history by offering needed perspective on one of the nation's most divisive …
Environmental Studies April 19, 2022

No Standard Oil

Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World

Deborah Gordon

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World (Oxford University Press, 2021), Deborah Gordon shows that no two oils or gases are environmentally alike. Each has a …
Scholarly Communication April 18, 2022

The University Network for Human Rights

Scholarly Societies Series

Jim Cavallaro

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The University Network for Human Rights facilitates supervised undergraduate engagement in the practice of human rights at colleges and universities in the United States and across the globe. The University …
Business, Management, and Marketing April 14, 2022

Subprime Attention Crisis

Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet

Tim Hwang

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet (FSG Originals, 2020), Tim Hwang investigates the way big tech financializes attention. In the process …
General History April 5, 2022

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order

America and the World in the Free Market Era

Gary Gerstle

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The epochal shift toward neoliberalism–– a web of related policies that, broadly speaking, reduced the footprint of government in society and reassigned economic power to private market forces-that began in …
Political Science April 5, 2022

Politics and Expertise

How to Use Science in a Democratic Society

Zeynep Pamuk

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Our ability to act on some of the most pressing issues of our time, from pandemics and climate change to artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons, depends on knowledge provided by …
Political Science March 25, 2022

Democracy Rules

Jan-Werner Müller

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely translated and acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back …
Animal Studies March 23, 2022

The Meat Paradox

Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

Rob Percival

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status …