About Michael Vann

Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he’s not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California.

Michael's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Michael:

Brian Merchant, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech" (LIttle, Brown, 2023)

March 10, 2024

Blood in the Machine

Brian Merchant
Hosted by Michael Vann

"Luddite" has become an insult and Brian Merchant wants to change that. Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech (Little, B…

Robert Alpert et al., "Diseased Cinema: Plagues, Pandemics and Zombies in American Movies" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

February 6, 2024

Diseased Cinema

Robert Alpert, Merle Eisenberg, and Lee Mordechai
Hosted by Michael Vann

As I may be the target audience for Diseased Cinema: Plagues, Pandemics and Zombies in American Movies (Edinburgh UP, 2023), I really enjoyed intervie…

Walter Greason and Tim Fielder, "The Graphic History of Hip Hop" (NYC Department of Education, 2023)

December 27, 2023

The Graphic History of Hip Hop

Walter Greason and Tim Fielder
Hosted by Michael Vann

Hip Hop turned 50 this year. It has been five decades since DJ Cool Herc played a party in the Bronx that gave birth to a global cultural revolution. …

Jeffrey Whyte, "The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

December 27, 2023

The Birth of Psychological War

Jeffrey Whyte
Hosted by Michael Vann

Jeffrey Whyte's book The Birth of Psychological War: Propaganda, Espionage, and Military Violence from WWII to the Vietnam War (Oxford UP, 2023) explo…

David Veevers, "The Great Defiance: How the World Took on the British Empire" (Ebury Press, 2023)

November 4, 2023

The Great Defiance

David Veevers
Hosted by Michael Vann

The story of the British Empire is a familiar one: Britain came, it saw, it conquered, forging a glorious world empire upon which the sun never set. I…

Philipp Stelzel, "The Faculty Lounge: A Cocktail Guide for Academics" (Indiana UP, 2023)

October 18, 2023

The Faculty Lounge

Philipp Stelzel
Hosted by Michael Vann

The life of a scholar is stressful. The best way to muddle through is with a stiff drink. Balancing teaching, research, and service more than merits a…

Taylor Lorenz, "Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet" (Simon & Schuster, 2023)

October 3, 2023

Extremely Online

Taylor Lorenz
Hosted by Michael Vann
Listen:

Acclaimed Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz presents a groundbreaking social history of the internet—revealing how online influence and the creat…

Viet Thanh Nguyen, "A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023)

October 3, 2023

A Man of Two Faces

Viet Thanh Nguyen
Hosted by Michael Vann
Listen:

With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023), Viet Thanh…

Gregory Cahill, "The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen" (Life Drawn, 2023)

September 14, 2023

The Golden Voice

Gregory Cahill
Hosted by Michael Vann

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen (Life Drawn, 2023) is very well-researched graphic novel based on the life of beloved Camb…

Jonathan Sandler, "The English GI: World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy's Adventures in the United States and Europe" (2022)

September 8, 2023

The English GI

Jonathan Sandler
Hosted by Michael Vann
Listen:

Jonathan Sandler’s The English GI: World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy’s Adventures in the United States and Europe, is an adaptation…

Van Nguyen-Marshall, "Between War and the State: Civil Society in South Vietnam, 1954-1975" (Southeast Asia Program, 2023)

August 13, 2023

Between War and the State

Van Nguyen-Marshall
Hosted by Michael Vann

The history of South Vietnam (1954-1975) is in the midst of a major revision. Historians such as Van Nguyen-Marshall are rejecting old clichés of corr…

Po-Shek Fu, "Hong Kong Media and Asia's Cold War" (Oxford UP, 2023)

July 26, 2023

Hong Kong Media and Asia's Cold War

Po-Shek Fu
Hosted by Michael Vann
Listen:

British Hong Kong was a historical anomaly in the Cold War. It experienced no "hot war" or organized movement for independence, and yet it was a key b…

Mani Sharpe, "Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

July 19, 2023

Late-Colonial French Cinema

Mani Sharpe
Hosted by Michael Vann
Listen:

In Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence, Mani Sharpe peploys the term “late-colonial” to describe (mostly) French fil…

Christoph Kalter, "Postcolonial People: The Return from Africa and the Remaking of Portugal " (Cambridge UP, 2022)

May 23, 2023

Postcolonial People

Christoph Kalter
Hosted by Michael Vann

In the space of a few months in 1975, more than 500,000 Portuguese settlers fled their homes in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tomé and Princi…

Matthew Jagel, "Khmer Nationalist: Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia" (Northern Illinois UP, 2023)

May 15, 2023

Khmer Nationalist

Matthew Jagel
Hosted by Michael Vann

Khmer Nationalist: Sơn Ngc Thành, the CIA, and the Transformation of Cambodia (Northern Illinois UP, 2023) is a political history of Cambodia from Wor…

Maria L. Quintana, "Contracting Freedom: Race, Empire, and U.S. Guestworker Programs" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)

May 12, 2023

Contracting Freedom

Maria L. Quintana
Hosted by Michael Vann

Contracting Freedom: Race, Empire, and U.S. Guestworker Programs (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022) explores the origins of twentieth-century U.S. guestwork…

Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk, "A History of Plague in Java, 1911-1942" (SEA Program Publications, 2022)

April 30, 2023

A History of Plague in Java, 1911-1942

Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk
Hosted by Michael Vann

I was very excited to chat with Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk as we share some obsessions, namely rats and plague in colonial Southeast Asia. His A Histor…

Chas Smith, "Reports from Hell" (Rare Bird Books, 2020)

April 13, 2023

Reports from Hell

Chas Smith
Hosted by Michael Vann

While now a prominent and controversial surf journalist, Chas Smith started his career as a war correspondent in the Middle East. Obsessed with Joan D…

Sinobabble: A Podcast about Modern Chinese History

April 12, 2023

Sinobabble

Edi Obiakpani-Reid
Hosted by Michael Vann

I got to chat with Dr. Edi Obiakpani-Reid about Sinobabble, her podcast series on 20th century Chinese history. In this series she offers an informed …

David Lester and Marcus Rediker, "Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel" (Beacon Press, 2023)

March 31, 2023

Under the Banner of King Death

David Lester and Marcus Rediker
Hosted by Michael Vann

Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, A Graphic Novel (Beacon Press, 2023) is a comic adaptation of Rediker’s now classic 2004 Vill…

Spencer D. Segalla, "Empire and Catastrophe: Decolonization and Environmental Disaster in North Africa and Mediterranean France since 1954" (U Nebraska Press, 2021)

February 4, 2023

Empire and Catastrophe

Spencer D. Segalla
Hosted by Michael Vann

Spencer Segalla’s Empire and Catastrophe: Decolonization and Environmental Disaster in North Africa and Mediterranean France since 1954 (U Nebraska Pr…

Podcast Series: Hell on Earth--The 30 Years War and the Violent Birth of Capitalism

January 22, 2023

Podcast Series: Hell on Earth

Chris Wade and Matt Christman
Hosted by Michael Vann

Hell on Earth: The 30 Years War and the Violent Birth of Capitalism is a new 10-part series from the creators of Hell of Presidents — one of Entertain…

Mark McKinney, "Postcolonialism and Migration in French Comics" (Leuven UP, 2021)

December 24, 2022

Postcolonialism and Migration in French Comics

Mark McKinney
Hosted by Michael Vann

Regarded as the “9th Art”, French bande desinée have a much longer history of serious socio-political engagement than American comics. Since the Alger…

Daniel Immerwahr, "The Galactic Vietnam: Technology, Modernization, and Empire in George Lucas’s Star Wars" (2022)

December 10, 2022

The Galactic Vietnam

Daniel Immerwahr
Hosted by Michael Vann

In this episode I got to chat about two of my favorite things: the history of imperialism and Star Wars with Daniel Immerwahr, Professor of History at…