New Books in Biography & Memoir
Episodes
Ian Kumekawa, "The First Serious Optimist: A. C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics" (Princeton UP, 2017)
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The work of Alfred Charles Pigou may not be as well known to people today as that of his contemporary John Maynard Keynes, but as Ian Kumekawa details...
D. Benge and N. Pickowicz, "The American Puritans" (Reformation Heritage Books, 2020)
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival in the new world of the Mayflower, Dustin Benge and Nate Pickowicz have written a lively and accessib...
Laura J. Arata, "Race and the Wild West" (U Oklahoma Press, 2020)
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After Laura Arata first visited Virginia City, Montana in graduate school, she became fascinated by the story of one historical figure—Sarah Bickfor...
Adriaan C. Neele, "Petrus van Mastricht (1630-1706): Text, Context, and Interpretation" (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2020)
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Adriaan Neele, who is director of the doctoral programme and Professor of Historical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, has edited an ...
Anais Angelo, "Power and the Presidency in Kenya: The Jomo Kenyatta Years" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Anais Angelo, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for African Studies at the University of Vienna has written an exceptional book entitled Power ...
Roman Deininger, "Markus Söder: The Shadow Chancellor" (Droemer Knauer, 2020)
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next year, Germany goes to the polls. For the first time in 15 years, Angela Merkel will not be a candidate for chancellor. Although a leadership elec...
Jody A. Forrester, "Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary" (Odyssey Books, 2020)
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is 1969 and Jody A. Forrester is in her late teens, transitioning from a Sixties love child to pacifist anti-Vietnam War activist to an ardent revo...
Anne García-Romero, "The Fornes Frame" (U Arizona Press, 2016)
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In The Fornes Frame: Contemporary Latina Playwrights and the Legacy of Maria Irene Fornes (University of Arizona Press, 2016) playwright and theatre s...
Meg Heckman, "Political Godmother: Nackey Scripps Loeb and the Newspaper That Shook the Republican Party" (Potomac Books, 2020)
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Despite her nearly two decades as the publisher of the largest newspaper in a politically pivotal state, the role of Nackey Scripps Loeb in American p...
Postscript: Shirley Chisholm as Principled Political Strategist
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America. “I am not the candidate...
Audrey Truschke, “Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King” (Stanford UP, 2017)
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many, the history of the Mughal empire looms heavy over contemporary South Asian social imaginaries. The lightning rod figure within modern day my...
Tamar Herzig, "A Convert’s Tale: Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy" (Harvard UP, 2019)
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of New Books in History, Jana Byars talks with Tamar Herzig, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University, the Director of Tel Aviv Uni...
Joanna Stingray, "Red Wave: An American in the Soviet Music Underground" (Doppelhouse Press, 2020)
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Red Wave: An American in the Soviet Music Underground (Doppelhouse Press, 2020) is Joanna Stingray’s autobiographical account of her time on the und...
Marion Bower, "The Life and Work of Joan Riviere: Freud, Klein and Female Sexuality" (Routledge, 2018)
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Joan Riviere (1883-1962) is best known for her role in promoting the ideas of others. She came to prominence in the world of psychoanalysis as Freud’...
Crawford Gribben, "An Introduction to John Owen: A Christian Vision for Every Stage of Life" (Crossway, 2020)
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Though theology is often regarded as dealing primarily with abstract issues of belief, the prolific 17th-century English Puritan John Owen focused muc...
Alicia Turner, "The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk Who Faced Down the British Empire" (Oxford UP, 2020)
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Buddhism has always been a world religion, but its popularity in the West really dates only from the late nineteenth century, when much of the Buddhis...
Charisse Burden-Stelly, "W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History" (ABC-CLIO, 2019)
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why is the scholarship and advocacy work of W.E.B. Du Bois so relevant for 21st century politics? Does his unique combination of both serve as a possi...
Victoria de Grazia, "The Perfect Fascist: A Story of Love, Power, and Morality in Mussolini’s Italy" (Harvard UP, 2020)
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In her new book, The Perfect Fascist: A Story of Love, Power, and Morality in Mussolini’s Italy (Belknap Press), Dr. Victoria de Grazia takes the s...
J. E. Zelizer, "Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party" (Penguin, 2020)
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly everyone in the United States is aware of the fiery rhetoric and divisive political stratagems of Donald Trump and the contemporary Republican ...
A. Meleagrou-Hitchens, "Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad" (Harvard UP, 2020)
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Anwar al-Awlaki was, according to one of his followers, “the main man who translated jihad into English.” By the time he was killed by an American...
A Discussion with J. T. Roane on Writing African American Lives
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to New Books in African American Studies, a channel on the New Books Network. I am your host, Adam McNeil. Today on the podcast I have the hon...
Steven C. Smith, "Music by Max Steiner: The Epic Life of Hollywood’s Most Influential Composer" (Oxford UP, 2020)
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During a seven-decade career that spanned from 19th century Vienna to 1920s Broadway to the golden age of Hollywood, three-time Academy Award winner M...
Benjamin Talton, "In This Land of Plenty: Mickey Leland and Africa in American Politics" (Pennsylvania UP, 2019)
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In This Land of Plenty: Mickey Leland and Africa in American Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press) by Benjamin Talton is a transnational history...
Lucas E. Morel, "Lincoln and the American Founding" (SIUP, 2020)
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Four score and seven years ago…” Those are some of the most famous words in American history. Most of us know that President Abraham Lincoln sp...
Rae Linda Brown, "Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price" (U Illinois Press, 2020)
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1933, the Chicago Symphony performed the Symphony in E Minor by Florence B. Price. It was the first time a major American orchestra played a compos...
Duane Tananbaum, "Herbert H. Lehman: A Political Biography" (SUNY Press, 2017)
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of three decades of public service, Herbert Lehman dedicated himself tirelessly to advances the causes in which he believed. In Herber...
Polly E. Bugros McLean, "Remembering Lucile: A Virginia Family's Rise from Slavery and a Legacy Forged a Mile High" (UP of Colorado, 2018)
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1918 Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Jones received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, becoming its first female African American gr...
Amy Von Lintel, "Georgia O'Keeffe's Wartime Texas Letters" (Texas A&M UP, 2020)
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1912, at age 24, Georgia O’Keeffe boarded a train in Virginia and headed west, to the prairies of the Texas Panhandle, to take a position as art ...
Barry Witham, "From Red-Baiting to Blacklisting: The Labor Plays of Manny Fried" (SIU Press 2020)
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Red-Baiting to Blacklisting: The Labor Plays of Manny Fried (SIU Press 2020) collects three plays by Manny Fried alongside a thorough explanation...
Nozomi Naoi, "Yumeji Modern: Designing the Everyday in Twentieth-Century Japan" (U Washington Press, 2020)
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nozomi Naoi’s Yumeji Modern: Designing the Everyday in Twentieth-Century Japan (University of Washington Press, 2020) is the first book-length Engl...
Russell J. A. Kilbourn, "The Cinema of Paolo Sorrentino: Commitment to Style" (Wallflower Press, 2020)
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Russell J. A. Kilbourn’s The Cinema of Paolo Sorrentino: Commitment to Style (Wallflower Press, 2020) is the first comprehensive study published in ...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 9: Vanity of Vanities
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I look at Eisler’s last days in England, where he found that the Oxford readership he had been promised before being sent to Dachau...
Theresa Kaminski, "Dr. Mary Walker's Civil War: One Woman's Journey to the Medal of Honor and the Fight for Women's Rights" (Lyons Press, 2020)
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Among the tens of thousands of Americans who volunteered their services during the Civil War was Mary Walker, a daring young woman who was one of the ...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 8: A Very Difficult Man to Kill
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March of 1938, Robert Eisler wrote to Oxford asking about being appointed to the Wilde Readersh...
Ari Linden, "Karl Kraus and The Discourse of Modernity" (Northwestern UP, 2020)
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Karl Kraus and The Discourse of Modernity (Northwestern University Press, 2020), Ari Linden analyzes Karl Kraus’s oeuvre while engaging in the co...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 7: The Christ Vision
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Whitehead of London, a self-described “Business Man” who was “no Churchman and not a Jesus worshipper, much as I admire him,” wrote to ...
Jerry Gershenhorn, "Louis Austin and the Carolina Times: A Life in the Long Black Freedom Struggle" (UNC Press, 2018)
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James West speaks with Jerry Gershenhorn, Julius L. Chambers Professor of History at North Carolina Central University, about Louis Austin and the C...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 6: Negative Interest
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Warning: Economics. In this episode, we begin with Eisler’s testimony before the skeptical Senators of the Committee on Banking and Currency in Wash...
Nasser Rahmaninejad, "A Man of the Theatre: Survival as an Artist in Iran" (New Village Press, 2020)
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nasser Rahmaninejad’s A Man of the Theatre: Survival as an Artist in Iran (New Village Press) provides a fascinating glimpse into the political and ...
Frank Dimatteo, "Lord High Executioner: The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia" (Citadel, 2020)
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Though not as well known today as many of his contemporaries, few American mob bosses were as feared as Albert Anastasia. As head of “Murder Inc.”...
Christopher Bonanos, "Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous" (Henry Holt, 2018)
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the middle of the twentieth century, a newspaper photographer who went by the name of Weegee took memorable pictures of New York City’s street li...
Sohrab Ahmari, "From Fire, by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith" (Ignatius Press, 2019)
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Youthful arrogance. Hipster alienation. A lot of reading. A lot of drinking. Struggles to adjust to a land radically different from the one that one h...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 5: The Slavonic Josephus
07 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we focus on one of Eisler’s most controversial works, a reconstruction of the 1st-century Roman Jewish historian Josephus’ accoun...
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, "The Age of Phillis" (Wesleyan UP, 2020)
02 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jennifer J. Davis speaks with Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma, about The Age of Phillis (Wesleyan UP, 202...
Zachary Carter, "Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes" (Random House, 2020)
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Keynes was not only an economist but the preeminent anti-authoritarian thinker of the 20th century, one who devoted his life to the belief that art an...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 4: Women’s Coats and Beach Cabanas
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we examine the rivalry/friendship between Eisler and the great scholar of Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem and reassess Eisler’s in...
James M. Lundberg, "Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2019)
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During his nearly four decades as a newspaper editor and politician, Horace Greeley embraced a range of controversial causes. In his book Horace Greel...
Yitzhak Lewis, "Permanent Beginning: R. Nachman of Braslav and Jewish Literary Modernity" (SUNY Press, 2020)
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Hasidic leader R. Nachman of Braslav (1772–1810) has held a place in the Jewish popular imagination for more than two centuries. Some see him as...
François Clemmons, "Officer Clemmons: A Memoir" (Catapult, 2020)
26 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Officer Clemmons: A Memoir (Catapult, 2020), François Clemmons tells the story of how he became the first ever African-American recurring characte...
Anya Jabour, "Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America" (U Illinois Press, 2019)
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sophonisba Breckinridge's remarkable career stretched from the Civil War to the Cold War. She took part in virtually every reform campaign of the Prog...
Shana Redmond, "Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson" (Duke UP, 2020)
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson (Duke University Press, 2020), Shana Redmond explores the ways in which Paul Robeson, silence...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 3: Eisler vs. the Flat Earth
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk with Michael Gubser about the pioneering art historian Alois Riegl, one of Eisler’s teachers in Vienna and a major influenc...
Philip A. Craig, "The Bond of Grace and Duty in the Soteriology of John Owen" (Founders Press, 2020)
18 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Philip A. Craig’s new book on John Owen, the premier puritan theologian, demonstrates how carefully his subject tracked the influence of antinomiani...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 2: Value Theory
16 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode (# 2), we discuss Eisler’s early years as a member of the Jewish bourgeoisie in turn-of-the-century Vienna with historian Steven Bel...
Imre Salusinszky, "The Hilton Bombing: Evan Pederick and the Ananda Marga" (Melbourne UP, 2019)
16 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Every morning of my life in the past few years I would wake with the thought, I’m a murderer. I have no right to enjoy life.” Evan Pederick speak...
Nandini Patwardhan, "Radical Spirits: India’s First Woman Doctor and Her American Champions" (Story Artisan Press, 2020)
12 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1883, a young woman named Anandi Joshi set out from her native India to the United States to study medicine. To do so, as Nandini Patwardhan descri...
Deepra Dandekar, “The Subhedar's Son” (Oxford UP, 2019)
10 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This book is a translation and study of The Subhedar's Son (Oxford University Press, 2019), an award-winning Marathi biographical novel written in 189...
A Very Square Peg: A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler. Episode 1: Man into Wolf
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss how I discovered Robert Eisler’s Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy ...
Ana María Reyes, "The Politics of Taste: Beatriz González and Cold War Aesthetics" (Duke UP, 2019)
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In The Politics of Taste: Beatriz González and Cold War Aesthetics (Duke University Press, 2019), Ana María Reyes examines the ways Colombian artis...
Tanya Harmer, "Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America" (UNC Press, 2020)
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tanya Harmer’s new biography, Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Cold War Latin America (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), explores h...
Brian Greene, "Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe" (Random House, 2020)
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Brian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he is the Director of the Institute for S...
Andrei Kushnir, "Epic Journey: Life and Times of Wasyl Kushnir" (Academic Studies Press, 2020)
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Epic Journey: Life and Times of Wasyl Kushnir (Academic Studies Press, 2020), Andrei Kushnir documents the story of his father, Wasyl Kushnir, who ...
Michael Braddick, "The Common Freedom of the People: John Lilburne and the English Revolution" (Oxford UP, 2018)
29 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As historical topics, political revolutions come in and out of fashion. At the moment the American Revolution as an ideological struggle engages the p...
M’hamed Oualdi, "A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" (Columbia UP, 2020)
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In light of the profound physical and mental traumas of colonization endured by North Africans, historians of recent decades have primarily concentrat...
Mitchell Nathanson, "Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original" (U Nebraska Press, 2020)
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are joined by Dr. Mitchell Nathanson, author of the book Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original (University of Nebraska Press, 2020). Nathan...
Brandon K. Winford, "John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights" (UP Kentucky, 2019)
19 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
John Hervey Wheeler (1908–1978) was one of the civil rights movement's most influential leaders. In articulating a bold vision of regional prosperit...
Derek Penslar, "Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader" (Yale UP, 2020)
19 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The life of Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) was as puzzling as it was brief. How did this cosmopolitan and assimilated European Jew become the leader of t...
Chris Fleming, "On Drugs" (Giramondo Publishing, 2019)
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"After I’d finished my rapid-fire history of self-justification he paused and then said, deadpan and rural-Australian-slow: 'Right. Ok. So how is th...
Nancy Mattina, "Uncommon Anthropologist: Gladys Reichard and Western Native American Culture" (U Oklahoma Press, 2019)
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Protégé of Elsie Clews Parsons and Franz Boas, founder and head of Barnard College's anthropology department, and a trailblazer in Native American l...
Lisa Balabanlilar, "The Emperor Jahangir: Power and Kingship in Mughal India" (I. B. Tauris, 2020)
08 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Despite a reign that lasted for over two decades, the Mughal emperor Jahangir has often been regarded as a weak ruler who was hobbled by his addiction...
Kwasi Konadu, "In Our Own Way In this Part of the World" (Duke UP, 2019)
07 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In his new book In Our Own Way In this Part of the World: Biography of an African Community, Culture and Nation (Duke University Press, 2019), Kwasi K...
Leslie M. Harris, "Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies" (U Georgia Press, 2019)
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies (University of Georgia Press, 2019), edited by Leslie M. Harris, James T. Campbell, and Alfred L. B...
Martha Ackmann, "These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson" (Norton, 2020)
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After a life lived in obscurity, Emily Dickinson emerged after death as one of the greatest poets of her time. In These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Mome...
Margaret Randall, "I Never Left Home: Poet, Feminist, Revolutionary" (Duke UP, 2020)
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Randall’s new memoir, I Never Left Home: Poet, Feminist, Revolutionary was published by Duke University Press in March 2020. Randall, born ...
David Kettler and Thomas Wheatland, "Learning From Franz L. Neumann" (Anthem Press, 2019)
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Franz Neumann was a member of a generation that saw the end of the Kaiserreich and the beginnings of a democratic republic carried by the labor moveme...
Charles J. Holden, "Republican Populist: Spiro Agnew and the Origins of Donald Trump’s America" (UVA Press, 2019)
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today Spiro Agnew is best known for his resignation from the vice presidency of the United States as part of a plea bargain deal related to a legal ca...
Christopher Tomlins, "In the Matter of Nat Turner: A Speculative History" (Princeton UP, 2020)
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 1831, Nat Turner led a band of Southampton County slaves in a rebellion that killed fifty-five whites, mostly women and children. After more than t...
Cynthia Orozco, "Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-Vento, Mexican American Civil Rights Activist and Texas Feminist" (U Texas Press, 2020)
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-Vento, Mexican American Civil Rights Activist and Texas Feminist (University of Texas Press, 2020), Cynthia E. Orozco ...
Great Books: Nicholas Johnson on Samuel Beckett
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Another heavenly day” is the opening line of Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days (1961), where Winnie sits buried to her waist in sand, with her h...
Tim Rooney, "John Beilein at Michigan: A Basketball Revival" (McFarland, 2020)
10 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When John Beilein arrived at University of Michigan in 2007, the once-proud men's basketball program was adrift after the fallout from a scandal and f...
Great Books: Denis Hollier on Lévi-Strauss' "Tristes Tropiques"
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Claude Lévi-Strauss' Tristes Tropiques is one of the great books of the 20th century: intellectually bold, morally capacious, and it aims to understa...
Tom Chaffin, "Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship that Helped Forge Two Nations" (St. Martins, 2019)
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Of the many thousands who participated in the American and French revolutions in the late 18th century, only a handful played roles in both events. Am...
Jeff Forret, "William’s Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and his Cargo of Black Convicts" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Forret is the author of William’s Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and his Cargo of Black Convicts, published by Cambridge University Press in 20...
Kimberly A. Hamlin, "Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener" (Norton, 2020)
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kimberly A. Hamlin is an award-winning historian and associate professor in American studies at Miami University of Ohio. Her book Free Thinker: Sex, ...
Jin Y. Park, "Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryŏp" (U of Hawaii Press, 2017)
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryŏp (University of Hawaii Press, 2017) by Jin Y. Park, professor of philosophy and religion ...
Matt Cook, "Sleight of Mind: 75 Ingenious Paradoxes in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy" (MIT Press, 2020)
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick. A magician's purpose is to create the appearance of impossibility, to pull a rabbit from an empty hat....
Jay Weiner, "Professor Berman: The Last Lecture of Minnesota’s Greatest Public Historian" (U Minnesota Press, 2019)
18 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In his latest book, journalist Jay Weiner details the extraordinary life of Professor Hy Berman. Written as an autobiography co-authored by Weiner, Pr...
Nancy Sinkoff, "From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History" (Wayne State UP, 2020)
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History (Wayne State University Press, 2020) is the fi...
Alan Taylor, "Thomas Jefferson’s Education" (W. W. Norton, 2019)
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Taylor is the author of Thomas Jefferson’s Education published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2019. Thomas Jefferson’s Education tells the stor...
Elizabeth Goldring, "Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist" (Yale UP, 2019)
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Limning – the painting of miniature portraits – was an important art form in 16th-century Europe. Among its greatest practitioners was Nicholas Hi...
John Hardman, "Marie-Antoinette: The Making of a French Queen" (Yale UP, 2019)
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who was the real Marie-Antoinette? She was mistrusted and reviled in her own time, and today she is portrayed as a lightweight incapable of understand...
Al Posamentier, "Math Makers: The Lives and Works of 50 Famous Mathematicians" (Prometheus, 2020)
10 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Alfred S. Posamentier, a co-author (with Christian Spreitzer) of Math Makers: The Lives and Works of 50 Famous Mathematicians (Prome...
Larry Wolff, "Woodrow Wilson and the Reimagining of Eastern Europe" (Stanford UP, 2020)
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allied powers met to reenvision the map of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, President ...
Rebecca E. Zietlow, "The Forgotten Emancipator: James Mitchell Ashley and the Ideological Origins of Reconstruction" (Cambridge UP, 2018)
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Though the story of emancipation is well known in American history, the roles of many of the key figures involved in it are often overlooked. Among th...
Mort Zachter, "Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach" (Sports Publishing, 2019)
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many books have been written about Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusscherre and the other great players on the New York Knicks champ...
Sarah Abrevaya Stein, "A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019)
28 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019), Sarah Abrevaya Stein weaves a narrative tapestr...
Phillipa Chong, “Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times” (Princeton UP, 2020)
25 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How does the world of book reviews work? In Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times (Princeton University Press, 2020), Philli...
Sohaira Siddiqui, "Law and Politics Under the Abbasids: An Intellectual Portrait of al-Juwayni" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
21 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In her intimidatingly brilliant new book Law and Politics Under the Abbasids: An Intellectual Portrait of al-Juwayni (Cambridge University Press, 201...
James N. Green, "Exile Within Exiles: Herbert Daniel Gay Brazilian Revolutionary" (Duke UP, 2018)
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Exile Within Exiles: Herbert Daniel Gay Brazilian Revolutionary (Duke University Press, 2018), James N. Green tells the story of Herbert Daniel, a...
Alistair Sponsel, "Darwin’s Evolving Identity: Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation" (U Chicago Press, 2018)
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Alistair Sponsel talks about Darwin’s experiences on HMS Beagle and his early career as a naturalist. His close reading of Darwin’s journals a...