New Books in American Studies

Hunter Hargraves, "Uncomfortable Television" (Duke UP, 2024)

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From The Wire to Intervention to Girls, postmillennial American television has dazzled audiences with novelistic seriality and cinematic aestheti...

Anthony Grasso, "Dual Justice: America's Divergent Approaches to Street and Corporate Crime" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The United States incarcerates its citizens for property crime, drug use, and violent crime at a rate that exceeds any other developed nation – and ...

Paul M. Renfro, "The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America" (UNC Press, 2024)

10 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980s, as HIV/AIDS ravaged queer communities and communities of color in the United States and beyond, a straight white teenager named Ryan Whi...

Donna J. Nicol, "Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action" (U Rochester Press, 2024)

09 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action (University of Rochester Press, 2024...

James M. Bradley, "Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician" (Oxford UP, 2024)

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite serving as the 8th president of the United States, Martin Van Buren gets little consideration for his impact on American history. In his new b...

Why Can’t the US Compete with China in Infrastructure?

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Dr. Shahar Hameiri and Dr. Lee Jones discuss the political economy and financing behind global infrastructure development, with a foc...

Andrew Stravers et al., "Beyond the Wire: US Military Deployments and Host Country Public Opinion" (Oxford UP, 2022)

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The United States stands at a crossroads in international security. The backbone of its international position for the last 70 years has been the mass...

Elia Powers, "Performing the News: Identity, Authority, and the Myth of Neutrality" (Rutgers UP, 2024)

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elia Powers' book Performing the News: Identity, Authority, and the Myth of Neutrality (Rutgers UP, 2024) explores how journalists from historically...

Aran Robert Shetterly, "Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City's Soul" (Amistad, 2024)

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On November 3, 1979, as activist Nelson Johnson assembled people for a march adjacent to Morningside Homes in Greensboro, North Carolina, gunshots ran...

The Impeachment Power: A Conversation with Keith Whittington

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this week’s episode we step into conversation with Keith Whittington about his new book, The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose ...

Matthew Ferrence, "I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay" (West Virginia UP, 2024)

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Matthew Ferrence about his book I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay (West Virginia UP, 2024). Wh...

Justene Hill Edwards, "Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman's Bank" (Norton, 2024)

03 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman's Bank (W. W. Norton, 2024), Justene Hill Edwards exposes how the rise and tragic fail...

Anne M. Whitesell, "Living Off the Government?: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare" (NYU Press, 2024)

03 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who deserves public assistance from the government? This age-old question has been revived by policymakers, pundits, and activists following the massi...

Sanaullah Khan, "Carceral Recovery: Prisons, Drug Markets, and the New Pharmaceutical Self" (Lexington Books, 2023)

03 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Carceral Recovery: Prisons, Drug Markets, and the New Pharmaceutical Self (Lexington Books, 2023) explores the interrelation between carceral conditi...

Phuc Tran, "Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In" (Flatiron Books, 2020)

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In (Flatiron Book...

Mirin Fader, "Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon" (Hachette, 2024)

02 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s now the norm for NBA and collegiate teams to have international players dotting their rosters. The Olympics are no longer a gimme for Team USA....

Ben Yagoda, "Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English" (Princeton UP, 2024)

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The British love to complain that words and phrases imported from America--from French fries to Awesome, man!--are destroying the English language....

From Rubinomics to Bidenomics: On the Democratic Party’s Shifting Trade & Industrial Policy

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is episode two Cited Podcast’s new season, the Use & Abuse of Economic Expertise. This season tells stories of the political and scholarly ...

Richard Schoch, "How Sondheim Can Change Your Life" (Atria Books, 2024)

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For fans of musical theatre, Stephen Sondheim is one of the true titans – the genius who brought us Sweeney Todd and West Side Story, Into the Woods...

Kirsten Widner and Anna Gunderson, "The Haves and Have-Nots in Supreme Court Representation and Participation, 2016 to 2021" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There has been a lot of commentary from scholars and journalists as to the meaning of Donald Trump’s three appointments to the United States Supreme...

Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre, "Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia's Search for Resilience" (U South Carolina Press, 2024)

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A journey through Southern Appalachia to explore the complex messages food communicates about the region. Depictions of Appalachian food culture and p...

Ronald Drabkin, "Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor" (William Morrow, 2024)

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Frederick Rutland—”Rutland of Jutland”—was a war hero, renowned World War I aviator…and a Japanese spy. In the years leading up to Pearl Har...

Friederike Baer, "Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War" (Oxford UP, 2022)

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1776 and 1783, Britain hired an estimated 30,000 German soldiers to fight in its war against the Americans. Collectively known as Hessians, th...

Lennard J. Davis, "Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those Without It" (Duke UP, 2024)

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For generations most of the canonical works that detail the lives of poor people have been created by rich or middle-class writers like Charles Dicken...

Eric Helleiner, "The Neomercantilists: A Global Intellectual History" (Cornell UP, 2021)

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when critiques of free trade policies are gaining currency, The Neomercantilists: A Global Intellectual History (Cornell UP, 2021) helps m...

Michael Hardt, "The Subversive Seventies" (Oxford UP, 2023)

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A thought-provoking reconsideration of how the revolutionary movements of the 1970s set the mold for today's activism. The 1970s was a decade of "subv...

Melissa Deckman, "The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy" (Columbia UP, 2024)

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As the 2024 American presidential election approaches, it is common to hear scholars and journalists discuss the role of particular groups such as Lat...

Nicolas Delsol, "Cattle in the Postcolumbian Americas: A Zooarchaeological Historical Study" (UP of Florida, 2024)

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Cattle in the Postcolumbian Americas: A Zooarchaeological Historical Study (University Press of Florida, 2024), Nicolas Delsol compares zooarch...

Eve Dunbar, "Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing Under Segregation" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing Under Segregation (U Minnesota Press, 2024) offers new and insightful readings of Africa...

Simon Kuznets and the Invention of the Economy

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Economics sometimes feels like a physics–so sturdy, so objective, and so immutable. Yet, behind every clean number or eye-popping graph, there is us...

Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva, "The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game" (UNC Press, 2024)

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (UNC Press, 2024), Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva offer an existential...

Megan Steigerwald Ille, "Opera for Everyone: The Industry's Experiments with American Opera in the Digital Age" (U Michigan Press, 2024)

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Every year a relatively small number of canonic operas are produced around the world. Many companies shy away from new works, afraid of alienating a p...

The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In early June 2020, Christina Gessler and Zerlina Maxwell met remotely to discuss Maxwell’s soon-to-be-released book. This episode is an encore pres...

Alexis Peri, "Dear Unknown Friend: The Remarkable Correspondence Between American and Soviet Women" (Harvard UP, 2024)

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the tense years of the early Cold War, American and Soviet women conducted a remarkable pen-pal correspondence that enabled them to see each other ...

S4E11 Religion and Republic: A Conversation with Miles Smith

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In our latest podcast episode, we sat down with historian Miles Smith, who teaches at Hillsdale College, to discuss his new book, Religion and Republ...

Bob Frishman, "Edward Duffield: Philadelphia Clockmaker, Citizen, Gentleman, 1730-1803" (APS Press, 2024)

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Edward Duffield (1730–1803) was a colonial Philadelphia clockmaker, whose elegant brass, mahogany, and walnut timekeepers stand proudly in major Ame...

Steven Levitsky, "Tyranny of the Minority: How to Reverse an Authoritarian Turn, and Forge a Democracy for All" (Crown, 2024)

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. ...

Michael J. Alarid, "Hispano Bastion: New Mexican Power in the Age of Manifest Destiny, 1837-1860" (U New Mexico Press, 2022)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Hispano Bastion: New Mexican Power in the Age of Manifest Destiny, 1837-1860 (University of New Mexico Press, 2023), historian Dr. Michael J. Ala...

Lois Peters Agnew, "Fitter, Happier: The Eugenic Strain in Twentieth-Century Cancer Rhetoric" (U Alabama Press, 2024)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fitter, Happier: The Eugenic Strain in Twentieth-Century Cancer Rhetoric (U Alabama Press, 2024) is a thought-provoking exploration of the relations...

Peter C. Kunze, "Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood, and the Disney Renaissance" (Rutgers UP, 2023)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1980s, Walt Disney Productions was struggling, largely bolstered by the success of its theme parks. Within fifteen years, however, it had...

Ashawnta Jackson, "Soul-Folk" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Folk music of the 1960s and 1970s was a genre that was always shifting and expanding, yet somehow never found room for so many. In the sounds of soul-...

E. L. Gaston, "Illusions of Control: Dilemmas in Managing U.S. Proxy Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria" (Columbia UP, 2024)

19 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last two decades, the United States has supported a range of militias, rebels, and other armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Critic...

Brad Balukjian, "The Six Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Wrestlemania" (Hachette, 2024)

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2005, Brad Balukjian left his position as a magazine fact-checker to pursue a dream job: partner with his childhood hero, The Iron Sheik (whose rea...

Amy Reading, "The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker" (Mariner Books, 2024)

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 1925, Katharine Sergeant Angell White walked into The New Yorker's midtown office and left with a job as an editor. The magazine was...

Jennifer Chudy, "Some White Folks: The Interracial Politics of Sympathy, Suffering, and Solidarity" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There is racial inequality in America, and some people are distressed over it while others are not. Some White Folks: The Interracial Politics of Sym...

Keith E. Whittington, "You Can't Teach That!: The Battle over University Classrooms" (Polity Press, 2024)

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who controls what is taught in American universities – professors or politicians? The answer is far from clear but suddenly urgent. Unprecedented ef...

Shared Paths: Exploring Jewish and Muslim Experiences in America

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week on International Horizons, John Torpey, Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, speaks with sociologists Mucahit Bilici and Samuel Heilman ...

Beth Blum on Self-Help, Dale Carnegie to Today (JP)

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Beth Blum, Assistant Professor of English at Harvard, is the author of The Self-Help Compulsion (Columbia University Press 2019). In 2020, she spo...

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms in James Baldwin’s "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone"

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast describes a short history of a man who did something we’ve lost in America. That man was James Baldwin who insisted on telling the trut...

Tevi Troy, "The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry" (Regnery History, 2024)

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When U.S. presidents clash with corporate titans, what tips the balance of power? In The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in ...

Dan La Botz, "Riding with the Revolution: The American Left in the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1925" (Brill, 2024)

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dan La Botz's book Riding with the Revolution: The American Left in the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1925 (Brill, 2024) tells the story of Americans wh...

Jackie Wang, "Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun: An Almanac of Extreme Girlhood" (Semiotext(e), 2023)

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jackie Wang is a poet, scholar, multimedia artist, and Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California....

Donald R. Hickey, "Tecumseh's War: The Epic Conflict for the Heart of America" (Westholme, 2023)

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Shawnee leader Tecumseh came to prominence in a war against the United States waged from 1811 to 1815. In 1805, Tecumseh's younger brother Lalawet...

Eric R. Schlereth, "Quitting the Nation: Emigrant Rights in North America" (UNC Press, 2024)

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Perceptions of the United States as a nation of immigrants are so commonplace that its history as a nation of emigrants is forgotten. However, once th...

Aliza Arzt, "Turning the Pages: Conversations Through Time with Rabbi Isador Signer" (Ben Yehuda Press, 2024)

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Aliza Arzt about Turning the Pages: Conversations Through Time with Rabbi Isador Signer (Ben Yehuda Press, 2024) In 1924, Rabbi I...

Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Sarah Mayorga, "A Good Reputation: How Residents Fight for an American Barrio" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Neighborhoods have the power to form significant parts of our worlds and identities. A neighborhood's reputation, however, doesn't always match up to ...

Gretchen Sisson, "Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood" (St. Martin's Press, 2024)

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Adoption has always been viewed as a beloved institution for building families, as well as a mutually agreeable common ground in the otherwise partisa...

Wes Marshall, "Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion That Science Underlies Our Transportation System" (Island Press, 2024)

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the US we are nearing four million road deaths since we began counting them in 1899. The numbers are getting worse in recent years, yet we continue...

Isaac Blacksin, "Conflicted: Making News from Global War" (Stanford UP, 2024)

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How is popular knowledge of war shaped by the stories we consume, what are the boundaries of this knowledge, and how are these boundaries policed or c...

Aviva Dove-Viebahn, "There She Goes Again: Gender, Power, and Knowledge in Contemporary Film and Television Franchises" (Rutgers UP, 2023)

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There She Goes Again: Gender, Power, and Knowledge in Contemporary Film and Television Franchises (Rutgers UP, 2023) interrogates the representation ...

Ryan Emanuel, "On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice" (UNC Press, 2024)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite centuries of colonialism, Indigenous peoples still occupy parts of their ancestral homelands in what is now Eastern North Carolina--a patchwor...

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor, "Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future" (The New Press, 2024)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A clarion call for justice in the quest for clean energy California’s Salton Sea region is home to some of the worst environmental health conditions...

Zach Fredman, "The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941–1949" (UNC Press, 2022)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941–1949 (UNC Press, 2022) explores the wartime partnership between China...

Risa Cromer, "Conceiving Christian America: Embryo Adoption and Reproductive Politics" (NYU Press, 2023)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1997, a group of white pro-life evangelical Christians in the United States created the nation’s first embryo adoption program to “save” the ...

Yolonda Youngs, "Framing Nature: The Creation of an American Icon at the Grand Canyon" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps no American landscape is as iconic as the rainbow rocks of Arizona's Grand Canyon. Yet, as the geographer Yolonda Youngs argues, the Grand Can...

Frank R. Baumgartner, “Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race” (Cambridge UP, 2018)

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We recently marked the 50th Anniversary of Terry vs. Ohio, the US Supreme Court case that dramatically expanded the scope under which agents of the st...

Jonathan Turley, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage" (Simon and Schuster, 2024)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“It’s a free country.” Many of us recall saying that as children as we learned that we were American citizens who were endowed with certain righ...

Natalie Wall, "Black Expression and White Generosity: A Theoretical Framework of Race" (Emerald Publishing, 2024)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Black Expression and White Generosity: A Theoretical Framework of Race (Emerald Publishing, 2024), Dr. Natalie Wall takes readers on a journey th...

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, "Corporatocracy: How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politicians" (NYU Press, 2024)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What threatens American democracy and the rule of law? In her new book, Corporatocracy: How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politici...

Iris Jamahl Dunkle, "Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb" (U California Press, 2024)

06 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collect...

Israel G. Solares, "Underground Leviathan: Corporate Sovereignty and Mining in the Americas" (U Nevada Press, 2024)

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Underground Leviathan: Corporate Sovereignty and Mining in the Americas (U Nevada Press, 2024) explores the emergence, dynamics, and lasting impacts ...

Eric Steven Zimmer, "Red Earth Nation: A History of the Meskwaki Settlement" (U Oklahoma Press, 2024)

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1857, the Meskwaki Nation began the long process of piecing their homelands back together. After decades of war, dispossession, and removal at the ...

Jeffrey Ding, "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic Competition" (Princeton UP, 2024)

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the mom...

Alexandre Lefebvre, "Liberalism as a Way of Life" (Princeton UP, 2024)

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why liberalism is all you need to lead a good, fun, worthy, and rewarding life—and how you can become a better and happier person by taking your lib...

Anat Geva, "The Architecture of Modern American Synagogues, 1950s-1960s" (Texas A&M UP, 2023)

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Anat Geva about The Architecture of Modern American Synagogues, 1950s-1960s (Texas A&M UP, 2023). There is no one mandate on how ...

Camille Owens, "Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America" (NYU Press, 2024)

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America (NYU Press, 2024) argues that the child has been the key figure giving measure...

Jon Michaels and David Noll, "Vigilante Nation: How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy" (Atria/One Signal, 2024)

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Law professors Jon Michaels and David Noll use their expertise to expose how state-supported forms of vigilantism are being deployed by MAGA Republica...

Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s book is: Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action (University of R...

Brianna Nofil, "The Migrant's Jail: An American History of Mass Incarceration" (Princeton UP, 2024)

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains an average of 37,000 migrants each night. To do so, they rely on, and pay for, the use of ...

Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, "The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places" (MIT Press, 2024)

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An expressive book of prose and photographs that reveals the powerful ways our everyday places support our shared belonging. Where would you take some...

Christian Wolmar, "The Liberation Line: The Untold Story of How American Engineering and Ingenuity Won World War II" (Hachette, 2024)

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

They certainly were not soldiers, yet they suddenly found themselves in uniform, in a foreign land. But, as locomotive drivers, track-workers, conduct...

Jerome E. Copulsky, "American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order" (Yale UP, 2024)

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A question has long hung over the the United States regarding the proper role of religion in public life. Those who long for a Christian America c...

Mary Bridges, "Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower" (Princeton UP, 2024)

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There was nothing inevitable or natural about the rise of US finance capitalism in the early twentieth century.  In Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers...

Lynne B. Sagalyn, "Times Square Remade: The Dynamics of Urban Change" (MIT Press, 2023)

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is it about Times Square that has inspired such attention for well over a century? And how is it that, despite its many changes of character, the...

Emily M. Farris and Mirya R. Holman, "The Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the United States" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The image of the sheriff is deeply embedded in American culture – from pacifist Jimmy Stewart in Destry Rides Again and gun averse Roy Scheider in...

Alessandra Seggi, "Youth and Suicide in American Cinema: Context, Causes, and Consequences" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022)

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Listener note: This interview contains discussions of suicide.  Youth and Suicide in American Cinema: Context, Causes, and Consequences (Palgrave Ma...

J. C. D. Clark, "The Enlightenment: An Idea and Its History" (Oxford UP, 2024)

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Enlightenment studies are currently in a state of flux, with unresolved arguments among its adherents about its dates, its locations, and the contents...

Konrad Bercovici, "The Algonquin Round Table: 25 Years with the Legends Who Lunch" (SUNY Press, 2024)

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Konrad Bercovici's The Algonquin Round Table: 25 Years With the Legends Who Lunch (SUNY Press, 2024) is a previously unpublished manuscript explori...

Free Speech 70: Michael S. Roth on the Rise of Student Protests, the Fall of Some College Presidents, and Why Liberal Education Matters

28 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The campus protests over conflict in Israel and Gaza have engulfed universities, and led to the resignation of several university presidents. In this ...

Jeff Schuhrke, "Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of U.S. Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade" (Verso, 2024)

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How the CIA used American unions to undermine workers at home and subvert democracy abroad. Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of U.S. Labor’s Glo...

Courtney Ann Irby, "Guiding God's Marriage: Faith and Social Change in Premarital Counseling" (NYU Press, 2024)

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is well-known that the institution of marriage has changed dramatically in the past few decades. However, very little research has focused on the r...

David L. Swartz, "The Academic Trumpists: Radicals Against Liberal Diversity" (Routledge, 2024)

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Remember the bleach drinking episode? Remember ‘alternative facts’? Remember ‘I have the best words’? These elements of the Trump presidency s...

Andrew W. Kahrl, "The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America (U Chicago Press, 2024), Andrew W. Kahrl uncovers the history of in...

Jane Little Botkin, "The Pink Dress: A Memoir of a Reluctant Beauty Queen" (She Writes Press, 2024)

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up in West Texas, Jane Little Botkin didn’t have designs on becoming a beauty queen. But not long after joining a pageant on a whim in colle...

Francis Stevens, "The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories" (MIT Press, 2024)

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When three people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by a scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimens...

Wayne A. Wiegand, "In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries" (UP of Mississippi, 2024)

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Librarians around the country are currently on a battleground, defending their right to purchase and circulate books dealing with issues of race and s...

David M. Driesen, "The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power" (Stanford UP, 2021)

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether we have a republic or a monarchy. He replied “A Rep...

Emily Carman, "Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System" (U Texas Press, 2016)

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

During the heyday of Hollywood’s studio system, stars were carefully cultivated and promoted, but at the price of their independence. This familiar ...

Robert Polner and Michael Tubridy, "An Irish Passion for Justice: The Life of Rebel New York Attorney Paul O'Dwyer" (Cornell UP, 2024)

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the city of New York from the 1930s to the 1990s, Irish attorney Paul O’Dwyer was a fierce and enduring presence in courtrooms, on picket lines, ...

William Cooper, "How America Works and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the US Political System" (Ad Lib, 2024)

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty-first-century America isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. William Cooper's How America Works and Why It Doesn't: A Brief Guide to the ...