New Books in American Studies

Blair LM Kelley, "Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days" (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026)

19 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026) is the first fully illustrated history of Junetee...

Inside the Mississippi Marathon: How Mississippi Dramatically Improved Its Education System with Rachel Canter

19 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, Rachel Canter founded Mississippi First, an education non-profit with the mission of improving educational outcomes for students across the...

Anna O. Law, "Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants" (Oxford UP, 2026)

18 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Anna O. Law, the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights in the Department of Political Science at City University of New York-Brooklyn Campus, ha...

Charlotte Brooks, "The Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family’s Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution" (U California Press, 2026)

18 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the Moy family—U.S.-born Chinese-American siblings who grow up in the first half of the 20th century—is one that spans the Pacific, c...

Adrian Ciani, "Contesting Zion: The Vatican, American Catholics, and the Partition of Palestine" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2025)

17 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The modern relationship between the Vatican and the State of Israel is rooted in a long history of hostility between Judaism and Roman Catholicism. Th...

Anna Harwell Celenza, "On the Record: Music that Changed America (Norton, 2026)

17 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There is no shortage of books on music and politics, but Anna Harwell Celenza explores an interesting premise in her book On the Record: Music that C...

Jesse Montgomery, "It Is Not Enough to Survive: The Young Patriots Story" (UNC Press, 2026)

16 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jesse Montgomery joins Michael Stauch to discuss It Is Not Enough to Survive: The Young Patriots Story (UNC Press, 2026). They examine how young ...

Robert Suits, "The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants" (Princeton UP, 2026)

16 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From the mid-nineteenth century through the dust bowl years of the Great Depression, a new kind of migrant worker became a familiar sight in communiti...

Brook Wilensky-Lanford, "A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2026)

15 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since conquistadores claimed Taino land in the name of their Catholic God and New England Puritans formed their strictly Protestant “city on a ...

Pamela Walker Laird, "Self-Made: The Stories that Forged an American Myth" (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

14 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"Self-Made" success is now an American badge of honor that rewards individualist ambitions while it hammers against community obligations. Yet, four c...

Stephanie Coontz, "For Better and Worse: The Complicated Past and Challenging Future of Marriage" (Viking, 2026)

14 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marriage rates have fallen dramatically since the 1970s. Yet far from devaluing marriage, people still overwhelmingly describe marriage as the...

Poet-Prophet of American Democracy: Walt Whitman’s Vital Political Prose

13 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Walt Whitman’s outrage at American politics and politicians was surpassed only by his passionate faith in democracy’s future. Both his anger and...

Curtis Dozier, "The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate" (Yale UP, 2026)

13 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Curtis Dozier's The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate (Yale University Press, 2026) explores how ...

Sarah McNamara, "Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South" (UNC Press, 2023)

12 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Decades before Miami became Havana USA, a wave of leftist, radical, working-class women and men from prerevolutionary Cuba crossed the Florida Strai...

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes, "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale UP, 2026)

12 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries. Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale a...

Justin F Jackson, "The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines" (UNC Press, 2025)

11 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, i...

“America’s Founding Son”: Author & Musician Bob Crawford on the Life of John Quincy Adams

11 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

John Quincy Adams was the great visionary of America’s post-founding era, a writer and orator of consummate skill who reframed the origins and princ...

Karine Premont and Christopher J. Devine eds., "Second in Command: Reevaluating the Role of Vice Presidents and Running Mates in Modern American Politics" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

11 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Karine Premont and Christopher Devine have a new edited volume focusing on the American Vice Presidency and analyzing not just the office and the o...

Michael Staudenmaier, "White, Black, Brown: Becoming Puerto Rican in Chicago" (UNC Press, 2026)

10 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Independent historian Michael Staudenmaier joins Michael Stauch to discuss his new book about “becoming Puerto Rican” in Chicago. Staudenmaier’...

Bruce Dearstyne, "Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change" (SUNY Press, 2026)

08 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change (SUNY Press, 2026), edited by Bruce Dearstyne and published by SUNY Press, examines what the volu...

Margaret O’Mara on the Clintons, Tech, and Memory

08 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We were joined by Professor Margaret O’Mara of the University of Washington, who had a front row seat to the Clinton campaign and went on to become ...

Kristian Williams, "Policing the Progressive City: Portland, Oregon, from Settlement to Uprising" (AK Press, 2026)

07 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kristian Williams, longtime activist and writer, joins Michael Stauch to discuss his new book Policing the Progressive City: Portland, Oregon, fro...

Robert W. Snyder, "When the City Stopped: Stories from New York's Essential Workers" (Cornell UP, 2026)

06 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered its first and most devastating strike in the United States in New York City in the Spring of 2020. Closely connected t...

Ashok Malhotra, "Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969" (UCL Press, 2026)

06 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Imperial Science, the Organic Movement and the Path to Shangri La, 1900-1969 (UCL Press, 2026) is a global history project that examines the diffus...

Eileen Otis, "Walmart: Made in China" (Stanford UP, 2026)

06 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Walmart: Made in China (Stanford University Press, 2026) by Dr. Eileen Otis tells the story of Walmart's expansion in China, making the case that it...

Michael Brownstein et al., "Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change" (MIT Press, 2025)

06 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A novel and scientific approach to creating transformative social change—and the surprising ways that each of us can help make a real difference. Ch...

David Cunningham on Contesting Confederate Monuments (JP)

04 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

David Cunningham joins John to speak about his pathbreaking article about visiting each of the 113 communities that removed or relocated Confederat...

Mollie Barnes, "Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902" (U South Carolina Press, 2026)

04 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902 (U South Carolina Press, 2026), Dr. Mollie ...

Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (Omohundro Institute and UNC Press, 2025)

03 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, Bri...

Kati Curts, "Assembling Religion: The Ford Motor Company and the Transformation of Religion in America" (NYU Press, 2025)

02 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Ford did not just mass produce cars. As a member of the Episcopal Church, reader of New Thought texts, believer in the “gospel of reincarnat...

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, "Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word and Me" (37 Ink, 2026)

02 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The N-word is one of the most perplexing, controversial and misunderstood words in the American lexicon. It’s a word that Elizabeth Pryor has not on...

Homes of the Past

01 Jun 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1940s New York, immigrant Jewish scholars sought to build a museum to commemorate their lost worlds and people. Among the Jews who arrived in the U...

Annette Gordon-Reed ed., "Jefferson on Race: A Reader" (Princeton UP, 2026)

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From The New York Times–bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello, a groundbreaking collection of Thomas Jeffer...

Julie J. Park, "Race, Class, and Affirmative Action: College Admissions in a New Era" (Harvard Education Press, 2026)

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Race, Class, and Affirmative Action: College Admissions in a New Era (Harvard Education Press, 2026), Julie J. Park offers deft analysis of the ch...

Chloe Chapin, "Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men" (Oxford UP, 2026)

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did black suits become so ubiquitous? Why has men's business clothing been so plain for the last 250 years? How did a style adopted by the Foundin...

Craig Fehrman, "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" (Simon & Schuster, 2026)

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey—having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids,...

Joanna Dee Das, "Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

31 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (University of Chicago Press, 2025) examines the history of Branson, Mi...

Charlie Qiuli Xue and Arwen Yingting Chen, "American-Designed Shopping Malls in China" (Hong Kong UP, 2026)

30 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

China’s remarkable journey from poverty to becoming the world’s second-largest economic power is marked by extraordinary urban growth and consumpt...

Ashley Rose Young, "Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans" (Oxford UP, 2025)

30 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For much of the Crescent City's history, days began with the cries of roaming street vendors and the percussive thwack of butchers' meat cleavers echo...

Robin R. Means Coleman and Novotny Lawrence eds., "The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film" (Oxford UP, 2024)

30 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Since the release of Jordan Peele's Academy Award-winning horror hit Get Out (2017), interest in Black horror films has erupted. This renewed intrig...

Chunmei Du, "Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians in the Aftermath of World War II" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

29 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Chunmei Du is an Associate Professor of History at Lingnan University. Her work focuses on the social and cultural history of modern China, specific...

Timothy Mason Roberts, "After Barbary: Algeria's Roles in the French and American Empires" (Cornell UP, 2025)

29 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After Barbary: Algeria's Roles in the French and American Empires (Cornell University Press, 2025) by Dr. Timothy Mason Roberts explores the connecti...

The Instigators

28 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Black women have always been the most relentless instigators for change—building a democracy for all. In The Instigators: How Black Women Have Bee...

Paige Towers, "What They Stole: A Familicide Rooted in Intercountry Adoption" (U Iowa Press, 2026)

28 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1955, following the devastation of the Korean War, Bertha and Harry Holt made headlines for adopting eight Korean children. Driven by evangelical c...

Andrea Zarafshon Moore, "Audible Loss: New Music and the Crisis of Memory" (Fordham UP, 2025)

27 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It is a compulsion of the human race to find a way to memorialize those we have lost and why we have lost them, from a gravestone of a loved one to wa...

Christopher S. Celenza, "The Evolution of Western Thought: Volume 1, From the Ancient World to Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

27 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A rich and immersive reinterpretation of the history of Western thought, The Evolution of Western Thought: Volume 1, From the Ancient World to Late A...

Jason S. Spicer, "Co-Operative Enterprise in Comparative Perspective: Exceptionally Un-American?" (Oxford UP, 2024)

26 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Co-operative enterprises, which are democratically owned and governed by their workers, customers, or suppliers, have long captured the imagination of...

Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

26 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders debated how to preserve and produce Jewish culture, fearful that growing affl...

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

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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

Thomas Xavier Sarmiento, "The Heartland of US Empire: Race, Region, and the Queer Filipinx Midwest" (Temple UP, 2026)

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Published by Temple University Press in 2026, The Heartland of US Empire: Race, Region, and the Queer Filipinx Midwest examines Filipinx cultur...

James O'Neil Spady, "Take Freedom: Recovering the Fugitive History of the Denmark Vesey Affair" (UNC Press, 2026)

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1822, Black Charlestonians attempted to overthrow slavery. They were exposed before they could strike, and many were tried and executed in what has...

Timothy K. August, "The Refugee Aesthetic: Reimagining Southeast Asian America" (Temple UP, 2020)

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In The Refugee Aesthetic: Reimagining Southeast Asian America (Temple University Press, 2021), Timothy K. August centers Southeast Asian American wr...

Stuart Schrader, "Blue Power: How Police Organized to Serve and Protect Themselves" (Basic Books, 2026)

24 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In America today, police enjoy unmatched power. On the streets, officers employ violence at their own discretion. Behind closed doors, they are even...

Shane Breaux, "Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns" (Routledge, 2026)

24 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns (Routledge, 2026) by Dr. Shane B...

Mary T. Freeman, "Abolitionists and the Politics of Correspondence" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

23 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Freeman, associate professor of history at the University of Maine, joins Michael Stauch to discuss her new book Abolitionists and the Politi...

Ellen Levitt, "Former Synagogues of the United States: Looking at Buildings That Once Housed Synagogues, Schools, and Other Jewish Institutions" (Resource Publications, 2026)

23 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the United States there are buildings that had been home to Jewish houses of worship, schools, and other institutions. What has happened to...

Anna O. Law, "Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants" (Oxford UP, 2026)

22 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Since the late nineteenth century, the US federal government has enjoyed exclusive authority to decide whether someone has the ability to enter and st...

Kori Schake, "The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States" (Wiley, 2025)

22 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest worries of the US Constitution's Framers was the danger of a standing army to a democracy, so they designed a system to ensure civi...

Evelyn Iritani, "Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II" (FSG, 2026)

21 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1943, the Gripsholm—a Swedish ocean liner—and the Teia Maru—a Japanese troop ship—sat in Mormugao, a port in Portuguese India. Ther...

Nathan K. Finney, "Orchestrating Power: The American Associational State in the First World War" (Cornell UP, 2025)

21 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Orchestrating Power: The American Associational State in the First World War⁠ (Cornell University Press, 2025) explores how the expansion of the Ame...

Debating the Constitution: On Originalism's Most Pressing Quarrels with Sherif Girgis

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here in Episode 8 of Season 5, I interview Professor Sherif Girgis. A graduate of Princeton University, the University of Oxford, and Yale Law School...

Rachel Deblinger, "Saving Our Survivors: How American Jews Learned about the Holocaust" (Indiana UP, 2025)

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did American Jews come to learn about the Holocaust in the immediate aftermath of the war? What kinds of images and representations of Holocaust s...

George Baylon Radics, "Emotional Filipinos: The American Myth of the 'Lazy Native' and Islamic Separatism in the Philippines" (U Georgia Press, 2026)

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the first half of the twentieth century, the United States attempted to build a colony in the Philippines in its own image—one fraught with raci...

Thomas Doherty, "How Film Became History: The Rise of the Archival Documentary in 1930s America" (Columbia UP, 2026)

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

By the 1930s, filmmakers had access to a backlog of footage from nearly forty years of motion pictures, allowing them to create a new kind of film sti...

Tom Meschery, "The Mad Manchurian: From the Internment Camps of Tokyo to the Hardwood Courts of the NBA" (Coffeetown Press, 2025)

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I was born in Harbin, Manchuria, (later China), in 1938. At the outbreak of the Second World War my mother, sister and I, along with other non-combata...

Steven W. Thrasher, "The Overseer Class: A Manifesto" (Amistad, 2026)

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“The poor, of whatever color, do not trust the law and certainly have no reason to, and God knows we didn't. ‘If you must call a cop,’ we said i...

Heather Ann Thompson, "Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage" (Pantheon, 2026)

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Historian Heather Ann Thompson’s Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage (Pantheon, 2026) ...

David Eisler, "Writing Wars: Authorship and American War Fiction, WWI to Present" (U Iowa Press, 2022)

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Writing Wars: Authorship and American War Fiction, WWI to Present (U Iowa Press, 2022) David Eisler looks at how American literary fiction about ...

Under the Tenement Rooftops: Immigrant and Migrant Families in New York

17 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orch...

Justin Randolph, "Mississippi Law: Policing and Reform in America’s Jim Crow Countryside (UNC Press, 2026)

17 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Randolph, assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University, joins Michael Stauch to discuss Mississippi Law: Policing and Reform in A...

Ayşehan Jülide Etem, "Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations" (Columbia UP, 2026)

16 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia UP, 2026) offers a powerful new account of how film shaped international relations a...

Paul Stob, "Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind" (Counterpoint Publishing, 2026)

15 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind (Counterpoint Publishing, 2026), Dr. ...

Gordon Simmons, "Mutiny in the Mountains: West Virginia Public Workers, 1969-2019" (PM Press, 2026)

15 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Former chief steward and union organizer Gordon Simmons joins Michael Stauch to discuss his new book on the history of labor struggles by public secto...

Amy D. McDowell, "Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America" (NYU Press, 2026)

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America (NYU Press, 2026) reveals how mundane social interactions in an evangelical church...

Stephen F. Knott, "Conspirator in Chief: The Long Tradition of Conspiracy Theories in the American Presidency" (UP Kansas, 2025)

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Political Scientist Steve Knott has a new book that focuses on conspiracy theories within the American presidency and often promulgated by the pres...

Charles L. Glaser, "Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America's Future Against a Rising China" (Cornell UP, 2025)

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America's Future Against a Rising China (Cornell UP, 2025), Charles L. Glaser advances a thought-provoking s...

Kira Ganga Kieffer, "Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America" (Princeton UP, 2026)

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kira Ganga Kieffer (Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Wesleyan University; PhD, Boston University, 2023) studies contemporary America...

Wil Haygood, "The War within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home" (Knopf, 2026)

12 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning author Wil Haygood joins Michael Stauch to discuss The War within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home (Knopf, 2026) h...

Brenda Boyle, "American War Stories" (Rutgers UP, 2021)

10 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In American War Stories (Rutgers UP, 2021) Brenda Boyle examines how the story of war is told in the Unites States and how these stories of war work...

Shannon McKenna Schmidt, "You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson’s Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode With Her" (Sourcebooks, 2026)

10 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From the author of The First Lady of WWII comes You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson’s Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode W...

Mark Peterson, "The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History" (Princeton UP, 2026)

09 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A provocative new history of America's constitution and an urgent call to action for a nation confronted by challenges its founders could never have i...

Terror, Hope, & Exodus: The Testimony of Henry Adams, Freedman

09 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

May 5, 2026—In March 1880, an extraordinary American traveled to Washington, DC, to testify before a Senate committee investigating the exodus of fo...

Sharon Zukin, "Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change" (Rutgers UP, 2014)

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Since its initial publication, Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change (Rutgers UP, 2014) has become the classic analysis of the emergence...

Julia Bowes, "Every Man's Home a Castle: Parental Rights and the Makings of Modern Conservatism" (Princeton UP, 2026)

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“Parental rights” is a rallying cry for today’s American conservatives, signaling opposition to mandatory vaccination and “woke” public scho...

Fighting for a Foothold: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia

07 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a suburban jurisdiction in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and is home to the highest concentration of ...

Frontier Films for America250: On the Western Genre and Beyond with Matthew J. Franck

06 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Here in Episode 7 of Season 5, I interview Dr. Matthew J. Franck. A senior contributing fellow at Public Discourse, a visiting lecturer in the Depa...

Lerone Martin, "Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr." (Amistad, 2026)

05 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We know who Martin Luther King Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism? Before Mar...

What Does the American Presidency Mean?

05 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Coming in the thick of the second Trump term, What Does the American Presidency Mean? The Need for Interpretation in Presidency Studies is a timely ...

Alice Echols, "Black Power, White Heat: From Solidarity Politics to Radical Chic" (Oxford UP, 2026)

03 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A rich history of cross-racial coalitions and alliances of the Sixties' freedom movement, acclaimed historian Alice Echols's Black Power, White Heat r...

Nicholas Tochka, "The Musical Lives of Charles Manson: The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

03 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Tochka analyzes the role of rock music in the life of Charles Manson, the Family, and the August 1969 Tate-LaBianca killings, which also give...

Katie Batza, "AIDS in the Heartland: How Unlikely Coalitions Created a Blueprint for LGBTQ Politics" (UNC Press, 2025)

02 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Katie Batza on their recently published book, AIDS in the Heartland: How Unlikely Coalitions Created a ...

Scott Kurashige, "American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism" (U California Press, 2026)

02 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This probing account shines a new light on the problem of anti-Asian violence and inspires us to build lasting solidarity. During the COVID-19 pandem...

Jason R. Young, "The Mask of Memory: White Racial Fantasy After the Civil War" (UNC Press, 2026)

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early twentieth century, a group of white writers, artists, and performers from the cultural hub of Charleston, South Carolina, created and cur...

Charles W. A. Prior, "Treaty Ground: Diplomacy and the Politics of Sovereignty, from Roanoke to the Republic" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Treaty Ground: Diplomacy and the Politics of Sovereignty, from Roanoke to the Republic (U Nebraska Press, 2026), Professor Charles W. A. Prior of...

Samira K. Mehta, "God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion" (UNC Press, 2026)

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most people today understand contraception as central to women’s liberation, and when the birth control pill arrived in 1960, the media thought it w...

Miranda Yaver, "Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Miranda Yaver’s new book, Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States (Cambridge UP, 2026), has lots of examp...

Rugged Individualism

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this special student edition of High Theory, Andrew Bennett, Jo Hoffman, Kai North, and Ally Sullivan tell us about Rugged Individualism, a concept...

Jack Cheevers, "Kennedy’s Coup: A White House Plot, a Saigon Murder, and America's Descent into Vietnam" (Simon and Schuster, 2026)

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Based on a decade of research and writing, enriched by eyewitness interviews and revealing documents obtained through dozens of freedom of information...

Caste and Race: Ambedkar and King with the Ambedkar King Study Circle

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode features S. Karthikeyan and S. Subbulakshmi, the Convenor and Secretary of the Ambedkar King Study Circle, an anti-caste organization bas...

Douglas Waller, "The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner" (Penguin, 2026)

26 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Frank Wisner was one of the most powerful men in 1950s Washington, though few knew it. Reporting directly to senior U.S. officials--his work largely h...