New Books Network

About Bruce Wark

NBN Episodes hosted by Bruce:

American Studies October 28, 2020

Democracy Without Journalism?

Confronting the Misinformation Society

Victor Pickard

Hosted by Bruce Wark
"Few freedoms in the United States are as cherished as freedom of the press." So begins Chapter One of Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society (Oxford University Press, 2020). The book by Victor Pickard, Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the Annenberg School for Communication makes it clear, however, that mainstream American news media are not really free at all, but have been pressed into service over …
Critical Theory June 15, 2016

The Servant State

Overseeing Capital Accumulation in Canada

Geoffrey McCormack and Thom Workman

Hosted by Bruce Wark
Two Canadian political science professors contend that the grotesque inequities of the capitalist system feed hatred, nourish misogyny, promote chronic dispossession and wreak havoc on the environment. In their new …
World Affairs February 24, 2016

This Changes Everything

Capitalism vs. The Climate

Naomi Klein

Hosted by Bruce Wark
The Canadian author and journalist Naomi Klein says right-wing conservatives who deny the reality of global warming are correct about the revolutionary implications of climate change. In her new book …
American Studies August 13, 2015

The Nation

A Biography

D. D. Guttenplan

Hosted by Bruce Wark
The Nation magazine turned 150 this year, a striking achievement for a publication that is firmly on the left of the political spectrum. It was founded in 1865 just months …
American Studies June 20, 2015

Ithaca Diaries

Coming of Age in the 1960s

Anita M. Harris

Hosted by Bruce Wark
Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll. That's the stereotypical view of the 1960s. But in her memoir, Ithaca Diaries, Coming of Age in the 1960s (Cambridge Common Press, 2014), journalist …
American Studies June 2, 2015

The Almanac

150 Years of the Nation (5)

Richard Kreitner, ed.

Hosted by Bruce Wark
Helen Keller, Franz Kafka and Silent Cal Coolidge appear in this week's Almanac, a blog to celebrate the 150thanniversary of The Nation, America's oldest magazine. Nation archivist Richard Kreitner is …
American Studies May 22, 2015

The Almanac

150 Years of The Nation (4)

Richard Kreitner, ed.

Hosted by Bruce Wark
When Star Wars opened in 1977, Robert Hatch, film reviewer for The Nation magazine, wrote that it "belongs in the sub-basement, or interstellar comic-strip school of science fiction, Terry and …
American Studies May 18, 2015

The Almanac

150 Years of The Nation (3)

Richard Kreitner, ed.

Hosted by Bruce Wark
The Nation magazine, a beacon of the cultural and political left, is celebrating 150 years of publishing. As part of its celebration, it's publishing a daily blog called The Almanac …
American Studies May 10, 2015

The Almanac

150 Years of The Nation (2)

Richard Kreitner, ed.

Hosted by Bruce Wark
The Nation magazine is one of America's most distinguished journalistic enterprises featuring the writing and work of such notable people as Calvin Trillin, Noam Chomsky, Jessica Mitford, James Baldwin and …
American Studies April 27, 2015

American Conspiracy Theories

Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent

Hosted by Bruce Wark
"Conspiracy theories are neither the vile excrescence of puny minds nor the telltale symptom of a sick society. They are the ineradicable stuff of politics."That's a quotation from American Conspiracy …
American Studies April 15, 2015

The Almanac

150 Years of The Nation

Richard Kreitner, ed.

Hosted by Bruce Wark
The Nation magazine is one of America's most distinguished journalistic enterprises featuring the writing and work of such notable people as Albert Einstein, Emma Goldman, Molly Ivins, I.F. Stone and …
American Studies March 10, 2015

What I Learned About Politics

Inside the Rise-and Collapse-of Nova Scotia's NDP Government

Graham Steele

Hosted by Bruce Wark
Political debate in western democracies such as in Canada, the U.S. and Britain has become empty theatre, full of rhetorical flourishes with little meaning for citizens, according to a new …