New Books Network

About Mark Klobas

NBN Episodes hosted by Mark:

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 14, 2022

Ravenna

Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Judith Herrin

Hosted by Mark Klobas
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 6, 2022

The January 6th Capitol Insurrection One Year On

A Discussion of the Far Right with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 3, 2022

Western Europe’s Democratic Age

1945-1968

Martin Conway

Hosted by Mark Klobas
What happened in the years following World War II to create a democratic revolution in the western half of Europe? In Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945-1968 (Princeton UP, 2021), Martin …
British Studies December 22, 2021

Britain at Bay

The Epic Story of the Second World War: 1938-1941

Alan Allport

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Here is the many-faceted, world-historically significant story of Britain at war. In looking closely at the military and political dimensions of the conflict's first crucial years, Alan Allport tackles questions …
General History December 16, 2021

Nikolai Chernyshevskii and Ayn Rand

Russian Nihilism Travels to America

Aaron Weinacht

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Nikolai Chernyshevskii and Ayn Rand: Russian Nihilism Travels to America (Lexington, 2021) argues that the core commitments of the nihilist movement of the 1860's made their way to 20th century America …
Middle Eastern Studies December 13, 2021

Trials of Resilience

How Covid-19 Is Driving Economic Change in the Arab Gulf

Jarmo T. Kotilaine

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The Gulf region can no longer rely on the traditional growth drivers – oil, government spending, and large infrastructure projects. The anticipated rise in living standards must come by other …
General History November 23, 2021

Confederates and Comancheros

Skullduggery and Double-Dealing in the Texas-New Mexico Borderlands

James Bailey Blackshear and Glen Sample Ely

Hosted by Mark Klobas
A vast and desolate region, the Texas-New Mexico borderlands have long been an ideal setting for intrigue and illegal dealings--never more so than in the lawless early days of cattle …
General History November 22, 2021

State Surveillance, Political Policing and Counter-Terrorism in Britain, 1880-1914

Vlad Solomon

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In 1850 Charles Dickens wrote that Great Britain had “no political police,” adding that “the most rabid demagogue” could speak out “without the terror of an organised spy system.” In …
Biography November 17, 2021

The Generals' Civil War

What Their Memoirs Can Teach Us Today

Stephen Cushman

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In the decades following the American Civil War, several of the generals who had laid down their swords picked up their pens and published accounts of their service in the …
Biography November 2, 2021

Galeazzo Ciano

The Fascist Pretender

Tobias Hof

Hosted by Mark Klobas
He was the son of a prominent politician, Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law, and viewed by many as the Duce’s likely successor, only to die before a fascist firing squad near the …
General History October 18, 2021

Rebirth of the English Comic Strip

A Kaleidoscope, 1847-1870

David Kunzle

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Rebirth of the English Comic Strip: A Kaleidoscope, 1847-1870 (UP of Mississippi, 2021) enters deep into an era of comic history that has been entirely neglected. This buried cache of mid-Victorian …
General History September 10, 2021

The International Brigades

Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War

Giles Tremlett

Hosted by Mark Klobas
When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though …
General History September 7, 2021

Teaching Machines

The History of Personalized Learning

Audrey Watters

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Contrary to the claims of many of today’s advocates of computerized instruction and online learning, efforts to use technology to improve the education process are hardly new. In Teaching Machines: The …
General History August 23, 2021

The Full Employment Horizon in 20th-Century America

The Movement for Economic Democracy

Michael Dennis

Hosted by Mark Klobas
One of the unfulfilled goals of the American left during the 1930s was that of an economy in which every American would enjoy the opportunity for gainful employment. In The Full …
Biography August 13, 2021

The Rise and Fall of Morris Ernst, Free Speech Renegade

Samantha Barbas

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Over the course of a long and successful legal career, Morris Ernst established himself as one of Americas foremost civil libertarians. Yet his advocacy of free speech – an advocacy …
General History August 6, 2021

The Dope

The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade

Benjamin T. Smith

Hosted by Mark Klobas
For over a century Mexico has been embroiled in a drug war dictated by the demands of their neighbor to the north. In The Dope: The Real History of the …
General History July 6, 2021

Empire Ascendant

The British World, Race, and the Rise of Japan, 1894-1914

Cees Heere

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In signing an alliance with Japan in 1902 Great Britain sought to strengthen its position in eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Yet this relationship was not a bilateral one …
General History June 22, 2021

Inside Money

Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power

Zachary Karabell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In 1800 a Belfast linen merchant named Alexander Brown emigrated with his wife and eldest son to Baltimore. Today his family’s name lives on in the investment firm Brown Brothers …
General History June 17, 2021

New Crusade

The Royal Navy and British Navalism, 1884-1914

Bradley Cesario

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In the years leading up to the First World War, a loose combination of serving naval officers, journalists, and politicians in Great Britain orchestrated a wave of support for the …
General History June 7, 2021

The Constitution of Knowledge

A Defense of Truth

Jonathan Rauch

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In recent years Americans have experienced a range of assaults upon the truth. In The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth (Brookings Institution Press, 2021), Jonathan Rauch describes the …
General History June 4, 2021

The Ever-Changing Past

Why All History Is Revisionist History

James M. Banner, Jr.

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In recent years the phrase “revisionist history” has emerged as a label for politically-correct reexaminations of an unalterable understanding of our past. As James M. Banner, Jr. demonstrates in his …
General History June 3, 2021

Socialism As a Secular Creed

A Modern Global History

Andrei Znamenski

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The predominantly secular focus of socialism can often obscure the parts of its ideology that reflect the elements it inherited from Western religious thinking. In Socialism as a Secular Creed …
General History May 24, 2021

Restricted Data

The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States

Alex Wellerstein

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Given the obsession with information and secrecy in today’s world, it can be difficult to imagine a time when governments held few secrets and worried little about what information …
General History April 30, 2021

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

A Photographic History

Karlos K. Hill

Hosted by Mark Klobas
On the evening of May 31, 1921, thousands of white Oklahomans assaulted the Greenwood District of the city of Tulsa. In what would come to be known as the Tulsa …