New Books in Biography & Memoir
Episodes
Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, "The Abbe Gregoire and the French Revolution: The Making of Modern Universalism" (U California Press, 2021)
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this age of globalization, the eighteenth-century priest and abolitionist Henri Grégoire have often been called a man ahead of his time. An icon o...
Robin Waterfield, trans. and ed., "The Complete Works of Epictetus: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Epictetus was born into slavery around the year 50 CE, and, upon being granted his freedom, he set himself up as a philosophy teacher. After being exp...
David Weinfeld, "An American Friendship: Horace Kallen, Alain Locke, and the Development of Cultural Pluralism" (Cornell UP, 2022)
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In An American Friendship: Horace Kallen, Alain Locke, and the Development of Cultural Pluralism (Cornell UP, 2022), David Weinfeld presents the bio...
Leslie A. Geddes, "Watermarks: Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature" (Princeton UP, 2020)
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Formless, mutable, transparent: the element of water posed major challenges for the visual artists of the Renaissance. To the engineers of the era, wa...
Radicalism, Humility, and Racism in America
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode focuses on the new book by Lydia Moland, who is a Professor of Philosophy at Colby College. Her book, Lydia Maria Child: A Radical ...
Erin Keane, "Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me" (Belt Publishing, 2022)
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From Erin Keane, editor in chief at Salon, comes Runaway: Notes in the Myths that Made Me (Belt Publishing, 2022), a touching memoir about the sear...
Charles Sawyer, "B. B. King: From Indianola to Icon: A Personal Odyssey with the 'King of the Blues'" (Schiffer Publishing, 2022)
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Want to take a trip with the king of the Blues? As B.B. King’s photographer and original biographer, Charlie Sawyer was along for the ride. In B.B....
Ruth Harris, "Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda" (Harvard UP, 2022)
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda (Harvard UP, 2022) tells the story of Swami Vivekananda, the nineteenth-century Hindu ascetic w...
John D'Emilio, "Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties" (Duke UP, 2022)
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Queer Voices podcast, John Marszalek interviews author John D’Emilio, one of the leading historians of his generation and a ...
Alexander Mikaberidze, "Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace" (Oxford UP, 2022)
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Every Russian knows him purely by his patronym. He was the general who triumphed over Napoleon's Grande Armée during the Patriotic War of 1812, not m...
M. Margaret McKeown, "Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas" (Potomac Books, 2022)
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was a giant in the legal world, even if he is often remembered for his four wives, as a potential vice-p...
Andrew Porwancher et al., "The Prophet of Harvard Law: James Bradley Thayer and His Legal Legacy" (UP of Kansas, 2022)
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Though relatively short, the 2022 book The Prophet of Harvard Law: James Bradley Thayer and His Legal Legacy (UP of Kansas, 2022) by Andrew Porwanch...
Emerald Garner, "Finding My Voice" (Haymarket, 2022)
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this unforgetable memoir, Emerald Garner recounts her father's cruel and unjust murder, the immense pain that followed, the pressures of an exploit...
On the Life and Legacy of Queen Elizabeth II
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She reigned for 70 years, longer than any other British sovereign. In this interview, Charles Coutinho ...
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu and Gwendolyn Mink, "Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress" (NYU Press, 2022)
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The first biography of trailblazing legislator Patsy Takemoto Mink, best known as the legislative champion of Title IX. "Every girl in Little League, ...
Sanjay Krishnan, "V. S. Naipaul's Journeys: From Periphery to Center" (Columbia UP, 2020)
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The author of more than thirty books of fiction and nonfiction and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, V. S. Naipaul (1932–2018) is one of the ...
Alison Melnick Dyer, "The Tibetan Nun Mingyur Peldrön: A Woman of Power and Privilege" (U Washington Press, 2022)
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Born to a powerful family and educated at the prominent Mindröling Monastery, the Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher Mingyur Peldrön (1699–1769) lev...
R. E. Evans and B. E. Kinnear, "'Richard Eager'": A Pilot's Story from Tennessee Eagle Scout to General Montgomery's 'Flying Fortress'" (Kieran Publishing, 2021)
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Captain Richard E. Evans was an American B-17 "Flying Fortress" pilot. He flew 55 combat missions and during that time was also chosen to fly British ...
NBN Classic: Fred S. Naiden, "Soldier, Priest, and God: A Life of Alexander the Great" (Oxford UP, 2018)
02 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode proved remarkably popular, so we're reposting it as an NBN classic for those who missed it the first time. The Macedonian king Alexander ...
Robert P. Watson, "George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and a Nation" (Georgetown UP, 2021)
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
George Washington is remembered for leading the Continental Army to victory, presiding over the Constitution, and forging a new nation, but few know t...
Beverly Weintraub, "Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators" (Lyons Press, 2021)
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Feb. 2, 2019, the skies over Maynardville, Tennessee, filled with the roar of four F/A-18F Super Hornets streaking overhead in close formation. In ...
Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt, "Franz Boas: The Emergence of the Anthropologist" (U Nebraska Press, 2019)
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Franz Boas is remembered today as one of the most important figures in the history of anthropology. In the United States, he is widely created with cr...
Julia Scheeres and Allison Gilbert, "Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America's Most-Read Woman" (Seal Press, 2022)
27 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Together, bestselling author Julia Scheeres and award-winning journalist Allison Gilbert have written Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robi...
Doug Greene, "Failure of Vision: Michael Harrington and the Limits of Democratic Socialism" (Zero Books, 2022)
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Democratic Socialists of America have exploded in the last few years, going from just a couple thousand members to close to a hundred thousand. Th...
Karen O'Brein-Kop, "Phiroz Mehta: A Zoroastrian Teacher of Indian Philosophy of Religion in 1970s-80s Britain"
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Phiroz Mehta, was a self-taught philosopher of religion who became the revered core figure of a universal religion and philosophy centred on concepts ...
Keri Blakinger, "Corrections in Ink: A Memoir" (St. Martin's Press, 2022)
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Corrections in Ink (St. Martin's Press, 2022) is an electric and unforgettable memoir about a young woman's journey-from the ice rink, to addiction a...
Michael S. Green, "Lincoln and Native Americans" (Southern Illinois UP, 2021)
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
President Abraham Lincoln ordered the largest mass execution of Indigenous people in American history, following the 1862 uprising of hungry Dakota in...
Olúfemi Táíwò, "Against Decolonization: Taking African Agency Seriously" (Hurst, 2022)
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Decolonisation has lost its way. Originally a struggle to escape the West’s direct political and economic control, it has become a catch-all idea, o...
John Peter DiIulio, "Completely Free: The Moral and Political Vision of John Stuart Mill" (Princeton UP, 2022)
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we emerge from a period of government-mandated lockdowns and as threats to free speech multiply, we would be wise to re-engage with the work of a s...
Jon Krampner, "Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success" (UP of Kentucky, 2022)
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A Hollywood screenwriting and movie-making icon, Ernest Lehman penned some of the most memorable scenes to ever grace the silver screen. Hailed by Va...
Olivier Zunz, "The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville" (Princeton UP, 2022)
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, Alexis de Tocqueville made his fateful journey to America, where he observed the thrilling reality of a functionin...
Stevie Van Zandt, "Unrequited Infatuations: A Memoir" (Hachette Books, 2022)
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What story begins in a bedroom in suburban New Jersey in the early '60s, unfolds on some of the country's largest stages, and then ranges across the g...
Timothy Paul Bowman, "You Will Never Be One of Us: A Teacher, a Texas Town, and the Rural Roots of Radical Conservatism" (U of Oklahoma Press, 2022)
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the 1974 school year began, Wayne Woodward was a beloved high school teacher in a rural Texas town. By the following spring, he was embroiled in a ...
Chris Belcher, "Pretty Baby: A Memoir" (Simon and Schuster, 2022)
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"The dominatrix is the id of American femininity. She says the words that we all wish we could say when we find ourselves frozen in the presence of me...
Steve Adelman, "Nocturnal Admissions: A Nightlife Memoir" (Santa Monica Press, 2022)
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Nocturnal Admissions: Behind the Scenes at Tunnel, Limelight, Avalon, and Other Legendary Nightclubs (Santa Monica Press, 2022), nightclub direc...
David Crow, "The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story" (Sandra Jonas Publishing, 2019)
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A violent ex-con forces his son to commit crimes in this unforgettable memoir about family and survival. Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, ...
David Reeve, "To Remain Myself: The History of Onghokham" (ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series / NUS Press, 2022)
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To Remain Myself: The History of Onghokham (ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series / NUS Press, 2022) is a particularly vivid biography of a remark...
R. B. More and Satyendra More, "Memoirs of a Dalit Communist: The Many Worlds of R.B. More" (Leftword Books, 2020)
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
R.B. More (1903–1972) was a leader in Babasaheb Ambedkar’s movement, a trade unionist and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). More...
Joanne Watson, "Empress Eugenie: A Footnote History, 1826-1920" (Grosvenor House, 2022)
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Empress Eugenie: A Footnote History, 1826-1920 (Grosvenor House, 2022) is the story of the glamorous French Empress who escaped from a vengeful mob i...
Book Talk 55: Courtney B. Hodrick and Amir Eshel on Hannah Arendt's "Rachel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewish Woman"
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hannah Arendt said that she had one life-long “best friend.” That was Rachel Varnhagen, a Jewish woman who lived in Enlightenment-era Berlin aroun...
Alexandr Dugin, Russia’s Imperial Philosopher: Into the Mind of a Russian Political Theorist
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We look at the mind behind Russia’s imperial vision, Aleksandr Dugin. Political theorist Matt McManus walks us through this far-right thinker’s st...
Liz Bucar, "Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation" (Harvard UP, 2022)
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Liz Bucar is the Director of Sacred Writes, Professor of Religion, and Dean’s Leadership Fellow at Northeastern University. Bucar is an expert in ...
Manuel Duarte de Oliveira, "Humanity Divided: Martin Buber and the Challenges of Being Chosen" (de Gruyter, 2021)
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout a hugely productive intellectual career spanning more than half a century, the Austrian-born philosopher Martin Buber returned repeatedly t...
Will Birch, "Cruel to Be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe" (Da Capo Press, 2019)
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is the definitive biography of singer-songwriter Nick Lowe, best known for "Cruel To Be Kind,” “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,” and "(...
Vinayak Chaturvedi, "Hindutva and Violence: V. D. Savarkar and the Essentials of History" (SUNY Press, 2022)
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hindutva and Violence: V. D. Savarkar and the Essentials of History (SUNY Press, 2022) explores the place of history in the political thought of Vina...
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, "Minority Of One: The Unchaining of an Arab Mind" (2020)
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even aga...
Matti Friedman, "Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" (Spiegel & Grau, 2022)
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on t...
E. James West, "Our Kind of Historian: The Work and Activism of Lerone Bennett Jr." (U Massachusetts Press, 2022)
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist, activist, popular historian, and public intellectual, Lerone Bennett Jr. left an indelible mark on twentieth-century American history and ...
Robert Edmund Cotter, "John Cennick (1718-1755): Methodism, Moravianism and the Rise of Evangelicalism" (Routledge, 2022)
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Edmund Cotter's book John Cennick (1718-1755): Methodism, Moravianism and the Rise of Evangelicalism (Routledge, 2022) explores the life and...
Michael Ackland, "The Existentialist Vision of Haruki Murakami" (Cambria Press, 2022)
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Haruki Murakami has often been accused of being a feckless, merely popular writer, but in The Existentialist Vision of Haruki Murakami (Cambria Pres...
Yael Halevi-Wise, "The Retrospective Imagination of A. B. Yehoshua" (Penn State UP, 2020)
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Once referred to by the New York Times as the "Israeli Faulkner," A. B. Yehoshua's fiction invites an assessment of Israel's Jewish inheritance and ...
Philip Nash, "Clare Boothe Luce: American Renaissance Woman" (Routledge, 2022)
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Nash's book Clare Boothe Luce: American Renaissance Woman (Routledge, 2022) is a concise and highly readable political biography that examine...
Gene Andrew Jarrett, "Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird" (Princeton UP, 2022)
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A major poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) was one of the first African American writers to garner international recognition in the wake of emanci...
Jonathon L. Earle and J. J. Carney, "Contesting Catholics: Benedicto Kiwanuka and the Birth of Postcolonial Uganda" (Boydell & Brewer, 2021)
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Assassinated by Idi Amin and a democratic ally of J.F. Kennedy during the Cold War, Benedicto Kiwanuka was Uganda's most controversial and disruptive ...
Cynthia E. Orozco, "Pioneer of Mexican-American Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales" (Arte Publico Press, 2020)
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Tiffany speaks with Professor Cynthia Orozco about her new book, Pioneer of Mexican-American Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales, publis...
87* Mike Leigh In Focus (JP)
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In nearly 50 years of filmmaking, British director Mike Leigh has ranged from comic portrayals of ordinary life amid the social breakdowns of Thatch...
Amy Von Lintel and Bonnie Roos, "Three Women Artists: Expanding Abstract Expressionism in the American West" (Texas A&M UP, 2022)
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Offering a fresh perspective on the influence of the American southwest—and particularly West Texas—on the New York art world of the 1950s, Three...
Jeremy Black, "The Game Is Afoot: The Enduring World of Sherlock Holmes" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022)
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fans of Sherlock Holmes will delight to investigate Victorian England, a world where crimes large and small abound and where dark corners and well-lit...
Meenal Shrivastava, "Amma’s Daughters: A Memoir" (Athabasca UP, 2018)
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to about Amma’s Daughters: A Memoir (Athabasca UP, 2018). This book is available open access here. As a precocious young girl, ...
On Frederick Douglass
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, it was illegal for him to learn the alphabet. Slave masters feared the power of a literate slav...
John Morton, "Celebrate Winter: An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing" (Morton Trails, 2020)
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrate Winter: An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing (Morton Trails, 2020) by John Morton is a wonderful look back at experiences and l...
Hans G. Myers, "The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War" (Casemate, 2022)
12 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hans G. Myers' book The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War (Casemate, 20...
Alexander Green, "Power and Progress: Joseph Ibn Kaspi and the Meaning of History" (SUNY Press, 2019)
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The philosopher and biblical commentator Joseph Ibn Kaspi (1280–1345) was a provocative Jewish thinker of the medieval era whose works have generall...
Marion (Mugs) McConnell, "Letters from the Yoga Masters" (North Atlantic Books, 2016)
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This intimate and insightful account of the life of Dr. Harry (Hari) Dickman, referred to by Swami Sivananda as “the yogi of the West,” features ...
Michael Elliott, "Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story" (Chicago Review Press, 2021)
10 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A journey through an artist's quest for success, deep dive into substance abuse, family tragedy, and ultimate triumph. By the mid-1980s, singer-songwr...
Nick Davis, "Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a Dual Portrait" (Knopf, 2021)
10 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A fascinating, complex dual biography of Hollywood's most dazzling—and famous—brothers, and a dark, riveting portrait of competition, love, and en...
Alice M. Kelly, "Decolonising the Conrad Canon" (Liverpool UP, 2022)
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the pressing work of decolonising our reading lists gaining traction in UK higher educational contexts, Decolonising the Conrad Canon (Liverpoo...
Jason Stacy, "Spoon River America: Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town" (U Illinois Press, 2021)
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A literary and cultural milestone, Spoon River Anthology captured an idea of the rural Midwest that became a bedrock myth of life in small-town Amer...
Corey Robin, "The Enigma of Clarence Thomas" (Metropolitan Books, 2019)
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Her...
86 Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton (JP EF)
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dana Stevens joins Elizabeth and John to discuss Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema and the Invention of the Twentieth Century. Her fanta...
Craig L. Symonds, "Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay" (Oxford UP, 2022)
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. N...
Will Jawando, "My Seven Black Fathers: A Young Activist's Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole" (FSG, 2022)
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Will Jawando tells a deeply affirmative story of hope and respect for men of color at a time when Black men are routinely stigmatized. As a boy growin...
Leah Kardos, "Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie (Bloomsbury, 2022) takes a close look at David Bowie's ambitious last works: his surprise 'comeback' ...
Richard Middleton, "Cornwallis: Soldier and Statesman in a Revolutionary World" (Yale UP, 2022)
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Charles, First Marquis of Cornwallis (1738-1805), was a leading figure in late eighteenth-century Britain. His career spanned the American War of Inde...
Hanan Hammad, "Unknown Past: Layla Murad, the Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt" (Stanford UP, 2022)
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Layla Murad (1918-1995) was once the highest-paid star in Egypt, and her movies were among the top-grossing in the box office. She starred in 28 films...
Ali Mirsepassi, "The Discovery of Iran: Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan" (Stanford UP, 2021)
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Discovery of Iran: Taghi Arani, a Radical Cosmopolitan (Stanford UP, 2021), opens with a fascinating passage about the 1934 decree whereby forei...
Thomas S. Kidd, "Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father" (Yale UP, 2017)
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Renowned as a printer, scientist, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin also published more works on religious topics than any other eighteenth-century Amer...
Skye Cleary, "How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment" (St. Martin's Press, 2022)
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Skye C. Cleary is a philosopher, writer and university teacher. In her new book How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment...
F. Brett Cox, "Roger Zelazny" (U Illinois Press, 2021)
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) combined poetic prose with fearless literary ambition to become one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 1...
Jay Baruch, "Tornado of Life: A Doctor's Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER" (MIT Press, 2022)
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To be an emergency room doctor is to be a professional listener to stories. Each patient presents a story; finding the heart of that story is the doct...
Dennis Deletant, "In Search of Romania" (Hurst, 2022)
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The imposition of Communist ideology was a misfortune for millions in Eastern Europe, but never for Dennis Deletant. Instead, it drew him to Romania. ...
Gabrielle David, "Trailblazers: Black Women Who Helped Make America Great, American Firsts/American Icons" (2leaf Press, 2021)
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since slavery, Black women have struggled to liberate themselves from racism and sexism. Yet despite these hurdles and under the most difficult circum...
Rachel Krantz, "Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy" (Harmony, 2022)
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Krantz is the author of the reported memoir, Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy (Harmony, 2022). She is the h...
Caryn Rose, "Why Patti Smith Matters" (U of Texas Press, 2022)
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Patti Smith arrived in New York City at the end of the Age of Aquarius in search of work and purpose. What she found—what she fostered—was a cultu...
Patrick Hastings, "The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2022)
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the creator of UlyssesGuide.com, The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses (Johns Hopkins UP, 2022) weaves together plot summaries, interpretive anal...
Laurie Marhoefer, "Racism and the Making of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Student, and the Empire of Queer Love" (U Toronto Press, 2022)
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1931, a sexologist arrived in colonial Shanghai to give a public lecture about homosexuality. In the audience was a medical student. The sexologis...
Antonio Rigopoulos, "The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi" (SUNY Press, 2021)
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi (SUNY Press, 2021), Antonio Rigopoulos explores the fundamental role of a ...
Bookends: A Conversation about Grad School, Loss, and Books
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Zibby Owen’s experience in grad school of losing her best friend. What she did ...
Dean Krouk, "The Making of an Antifascist: Nordahl Grieg Between the World Wars" (U Wisconsin Press, 2022)
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A young imperialist adventurer turned hero of the anti-Nazi resistance, Norwegian journalist, poet, and playwright Nordahl Grieg has become more of a ...
Yehudah Mirsky, "Towards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook, 1865-1904" (Academic Studies Press, 2021)
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Avraham Yitzhaq Ha-Cohen Kook (1865-1935) stands as a colossal figure of modern Jewish history and thought. Jurist, mystic, poet, theologian, communal...
H. H. Leonards, "Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership" (R. H. Boyd, 2022)
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership (R. H. Boyd, 2022) is a collection of inspiring and instructive memories compiled from the d...
Christopher S. Celenza, "Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer" (Reaktion Books, 2017)
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Born in Tuscany in 1304, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Italian language. Though his writings i...
Frank Close, "Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass" (Basic Book, 2022)
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On July 4, 2012, the announcement came that one of the longest-running mysteries in physics had been solved: the Higgs boson, the missing piece in und...
The Future of Erdogan: A Discussion with Dimitar Bechev
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Reccep Tayyib Erdogan is towering politician. He has dominated Turkey for 20 years and is now being compared to Ataturk as a man who has changed the d...
Yehudah Mirsky, "Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution" (Yale UP, 2014)
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A powerfully original thinker, Rav Kook combined strict traditionalism and an embrace of modernity, Orthodoxy and tolerance, piety and audacity, schol...
Simon Atkinson, "Krishnamacharya on Kundalini: The Origins and Coherence of His Position" (Equinox Publishing, 2022)
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Krishnamacharya on Kundalini: The Origins and Coherence of His Position (Equinox Publishing, 2022) explores a distinctive teaching of 'the father of...
Bradford P. Wilson and Carson Holloway, eds., "The Political Writings of Alexander Hamilton" (Cambridge UP, 2017)
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How much does the average person know about Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757 – 1804)? Would we have guessed that this hero of many fiscal conservati...
D. G. Hart, "Benjamin Franklin: Cultural Protestant" (Oxford UP, 2021)
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Franklin grew up in a devout Protestant family with limited prospects for wealth and fame. By hard work, limitless curiosity, native intellig...
Marc David Baer, "German, Jew, Muslim, Gay: The Life and Times of Hugo Marcus" (Columbia UP, 2020)
24 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was a man of many names and many identities. Born a German Jew, he converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one ...
Srilata Raman, "The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood" (Routledge, 2022)
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Srilata Raman's book The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood (Routledge, 2022) analyses the religiou...