New Books in British Studies

Bob Brier, "Tutankhamun and the Tomb That Changed the World" (Oxford UP, 2022)

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It is often thought that the story of Tutankhamun ended when the thousands of items discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were transported to...

NBN Classic: Paul Musselwhite, "Urban Dreams, Rural Commonwealth: The Rise of Plantation Society in the Chesapeake" (U Chicago Press, 2019)

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. Early American colonialism is ...

NBN Classic: Rachel B. Herrmann, "No Useless Mouth: Waging War and Fighting Hunger in the American Revolution" (Cornell UP, 2019)

01 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. When the British explored the ...

Noah Shusterman, "Armed Citizens: The Road from Ancient Rome to the Second Amendment" (U Virginia Press, 2020)

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Although much has changed in the United States since the eighteenth century, our framework for gun laws still largely relies on the Second Amendment a...

Emily Joan Ward, "Royal Childhood and Child Kingship: Boy Kings in England, Scotland, France and Germany, c. 1050–1262" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Royal Childhood and Child Kingship: Boy Kings in England, Scotland, France and Germany, c. 1050–1262 (Cambridge University Press, 2022) refines adu...

On David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature"

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1739, Scottish philosopher David Hume set out to chart the nature and limits of human knowledge. He published his theories and findings in what wou...

Rahul Sagar, "To Raise a Fallen People: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Indian Views on International Politics" (Columbia UP, 2022)

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most people tend to mark the beginning of Indian international relations thought to Nehru, and his self-proclaimed attempt to build a true non-aligned...

Alex Williams and Jeremy Gilbert, "Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back)" (Verso, 2022)

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today power is in the hands of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. How do we understand this transformation in power? And what can we do about it? We cann...

On Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Dawin’s 1859 book The Origin of Species introduced his famous theory of evolution. Darwin developed his theories of life and evolution after...

Chitranshul Sinha, "The Great Repression: The Story of Sedition in India" (India Viking, 2019)

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chitranshul Sinha is an advocate on record of the Supreme Court of India and a partner in Dua Associates, Advocates and Solicitors, who primarily prac...

Kathryn Harkup, "Death By Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions – shock, sadness, ...

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, "The Quantified Scholar: How Research Evaluations Transformed the British Social Sciences" (Columbia UP, 2022)

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do metrics and quantification shape social science? In The Quantified Scholar: How Research Evaluations Transformed the British Social Sciences ...

Jeremy Black, "A Brief History of London" (Little Brown, 2022)

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the United Kingdom left the European Union, during a period of international and domestic turmoil, London found itself at a turning point. This cri...

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 ...

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...

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Last episode we discussed films about how a nuclear war would start, particularly the insane logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). In this epis...

Andrew Hadfield, "Literature and Class: From the Peasants’ Revolt to the French Revolution" (Manchester UP, 2021)

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Hadfield is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. Andrew has written widely on topics ranging from class struggle in the Forsyte ch...

On Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe"

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When it was first published in 1719, many people believed Robinson Crusoe was a true story. Crusoe provides readers with a close look at not only the ...

Quo Vadis Britannia? Where is Britain Going?

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The United Kingdom has experienced a number of epochal transitions of late, starting with its departure from the European Union in early 2020, and mor...

Philip Lymbery, "Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future" (Bloombury, 2022)

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

From the United Kingdom to Italy, from Brazil to the Gambia to the USA, Philip Lymbery, the internationally acclaimed author of Farmageddon, goes beh...

Quo Vadis Britannia? Where is Britain Going?

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The United Kingdom has experienced a number of epochal transitions of late, starting with its departure from the European Union in early 2020, and mor...

Levi Roach, "Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia" (Pegasus Books, 2022)

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia (Pegasus, 2022) by Dr. Levi Roach is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freeboote...

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...

Murray Pittock, "Scotland: The Global History, 1603 to the Present" (Yale UP, 2022)

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Scotland: A Global History (Yale University Press, 2022) by Dr. Murray Pittock presents an engaging and authoritative history of Scotland’s influen...

Sarah Craze, "Atlantic Piracy in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Shocking Story of the Pirates and the Survivors of the Morning Star" (Boydell Press, 2022)

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The pirate attack on the British brig Morning Star, en route from Ceylon to London, near Ascension Island in 1828 was one of the most shocking episode...

Josep M. Fradera, "The Imperial Nation: Citizens and Subjects in the British, French, Spanish, and American Empires" (Princeton UP, 2018)

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How the legacy of monarchical empires shaped Britain, France, Spain, and the United States as they became liberal entities? Historians view the late e...

On John Maynard Keynes’ "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money"

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John Keynes’ book, General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, was published in England at the tail end of the Great Depression. This text is ...

Phil Hubbard, "Borderland: Identity and Belonging at the Edge of England" (Manchester UP, 2022)

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over recent years, the issues of Brexit, COVID and the 'migrant crisis' put Kent in the headlines like never before. Images of asylum seekers on Kent ...

Meighen McCrae, "Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War: The Supreme War Council and War Planning, 1917-1918" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When the Germans requested an armistice in October 1918, it was a shock to the Allied political and military leadership. They had been expecting, and ...

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 "(...

Amy Edwards, "Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain" (U California Press, 2022)

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast, Amy Edwards, author of Are We Rich Yet?: The Rise of Mass Investment Culture in Contemporary Britain (U California Press, 2022), ...

Kate Phillips, "Bought & Sold: Scotland, Jamaica and Slavery" (Luath Press, 2022)

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Bought & Sold: Scotland, Jamaica and Slavery (Luath Press, 2022) by Kate Phillips traces the story of how and why thousands of Scots made money from ...

Nathaniel Jarrett, "The Lion at Dawn: Forging British Strategy in the Age of the French Revolution, 1783–1797" (U Oklahoma Press, 2022)

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In February 1793, in the wake of the War of American Independence and one year after British prime minister William Pitt the Younger had predicted fif...

The Future of the European Union: A Discussion with Luuk van Middelaar

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Brexit debate has been so all-consuming and filled with so much misinformation that many Brits and others can overlook some the challenges facing ...

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...

Sarah Neville, "Early Modern Herbals and the Book Trade" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, works of botany underwent a radical change in the English book trade. A genre that was onc...

Ruben Espinosa, "Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism" (Routledge, 2021)

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism (Routledge, 2021), Ruben Espinosa explores the works of the early modern dramatist in the context of Trump-er...

On Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France"

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Edmund Burke was a British government official who saw the French Revolution as a mob action. He wrote a book called Reflections on the Revolution in ...

Ruben Espinosa, "Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism" (Routledge, 2021)

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism (Routledge, 2021), Ruben Espinosa explores the works of the early modern dramatist in the context of Trump-er...

On Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

24 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Frankenstein is a name we all know, even for those who haven’t read Mary Shelley’s novel. But the monster you might imagine is quite different fro...

Síobhra Aiken, "Spiritual Wounds: Trauma, Testimony and the Irish Civil War" (Irish Academic Press, 2022)

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Siobhra Aiken teaches in the Department of Irish and Celtic Studies at Queens University Belfast. Her research interests include modernist Irish-langu...

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...

Stephen Hewer. "Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland" (Brepols, 2022)

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal...

On T. E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence of Arabia has become one of the most well known films in the world. It inspired Steven Spielberg to become a filmmaker and President Barack O...

Tom Zoellner, "Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire" (Harvard UP, 2020)

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike ...

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...

Christian Wolmar, "British Rail: A New History" (Michael Joseph, 2022)

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You think you know British Rail. But you don't know the whole story. Now, award-winning writer Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on national...

Blake Whitaker, "Built on the Ruins of Empire: British Military Assistance and African Independence" (UP of Kansas, 2022)

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During the Cold War, the British government oversaw the transition to independence of dozens of colonies. Often the most challenging aspect of this tr...

Nasar Meer, "The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice" (Policy Press, 2022)

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why are societies still not offering racial equality? In The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice (Policy Press, 2022), Nasar Meer, a professor of Rac...

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...

John Goodall, "The Castle: A History" (Yale UP, 2022)

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In The Castle: A History (Yale University Press, 2022) Dr. John Goodall presents a vibrant history of the castle in Britain, from the early Middle A...

Itay Lotem, "The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of Silence" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021)

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of Silence (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), Itay Lotem explores the remembering of empire i...

John Callow, "The Last Witches of England: A Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the morning of Thursday 29 June 1682, a magpie came rasping, rapping and tapping at the window of a prosperous Devon merchant. Frightened by its ap...

Book Talk 54: Anne Fernald on Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway"

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Halfway through Mrs Dalloway, Septimus Smith mutters to himself: "Communication is health; communication is happiness, communication.” It’s easy...

On Thomas of Monmouth's "The Life and Passion of William of Norwich"

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There is only one surviving copy of The Life and Passion of William of Norwich, but its story continues to haunt us. When 12th-century monk Thomas of ...

Philip Tsang, "The Obsolete Empire: Untimely Belonging in Twentieth-Century British Literature" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2021)

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Modernist literature at the end of the British empire challenges conventional notions of homeland, heritage, and community.The waning British empire l...

Emily O. Wittman, "Interwar Itineraries: Authenticity in Anglophone and French Travel Writing" (Amherst College Press, 2022)

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How people traveled, and how people wrote about travel, changed in the interwar years. Novel technologies eased travel conditions, breeding new iterat...

Lisa Ford, "The King's Peace: Law and Order in the British Empire" (Harvard UP, 2021)

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Lisa Ford, Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, is the author of prize-winning monographs and a luminary in the field of gl...

Amy E. Grubb and Elisabeth Hope Murray, "British Responses to Genocide: The British Foreign Office and Humanitarianism in the Ottoman Empire, 1918-1923" (Routledge, 2022)

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When I was an undergrad, the chronology of World War One was simple. The war began in August of 1914 and ended in November of 1918. Now, of course, ...

Peter Kornicki, "Eavesdropping on the Emperor: Interrogators and Codebreakers in Britain's War With Japan" (Oxford UP, 2021)

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Japanese signals were decoded at Bletchley Park, who translated them into English? When Japanese soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, who int...

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...

Kimberly Anne Coles, "Bad Humor: Race and Religious Essentialism in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kimberly Anne Coles is Professor of English at the University of Maryland; her first book, Religion, Reform and Women’s Writing in Early Modern Eng...

Lachlan Fleetwood, "Science on the Roof of the World: Empire and the Remaking of the Himalaya" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, the idea that the Himalayas have the world’s tallest peaks—by a large margin—is entirely uncontroversial. Just about anyone can name Moun...

Nic Maclellan, "Grappling with the Bomb: Britain’s Pacific H-Bomb Tests" (ANU Press, 2017)

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nic Maclellan's book Grappling with the Bomb: Britain’s Pacific H-Bomb Tests (ANU Press, 2017) is a history of Britain’s 1950s program to test t...

Culturally Competent Health Care, Equality in Health Care: The Case of Muslims and Jews in the UK

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The health care sector frequently emphasizes “Cultural competence”, an elastic concept that stretches from the simplest recognition of diversity o...

Maeve Ryan, "Humanitarian Governance and the British Antislavery World System" (Yale UP, 2022)

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Maeve Ryan’s new book Humanitarian Governance and the British Antislavery World System (Yale UP, 2022) highlights Britain’s early-nineteenth-ce...

David Brown, "Empire and Enterprise: Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land During the British Civil Wars" (Manchester UP, 2020)

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Empire and Enterprise: Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land During the British Civil Wars (Manchester UP, 2020), Dr. David Brown exami...

David D. Dworak, "War of Supply: World War II Allied Logistics in the Mediterranean" (UP of Kentucky Press, 2022)

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The era of modern warfare introduced in World War II presented the Allied Powers with one of the more complicated logistical challenges of the century...

Melanie Bell, "Movie Workers: The Women Who Made British Cinema" (U Illinois Press, 2021)

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Where are the women in the history of British cinema? In Movie Workers: The Women Who Made British Cinema (U Illinois Press, 2021), Melanie Bell, a...

Donovan Sherman, "The Philosopher's Toothache: Embodied Stoicism in Early Modern English Drama" (Northwestern UP, 2021)

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, Leonato says, “I pray thee peace; I will be flesh and blood. / For there was never yet philosophe...

Veronica S. W. Mak, "Milk Craze: Body, Science, and Hope in China" (U Hawaii Press, 2021)

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Veronika Mak’s Milk Craze: Body, Science, and Hope in China (U of Hawaii Press, 2021) mixes historical and ethnographic research on milk to unde...

Niall Whelehan, "Changing Land: Diaspora Activism and the Irish Land War" (NYU Press, 2021)

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Niall Whelehan is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Strathclyde, where he focuses on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and themes...

Jed Esty, "The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at Its Limits" (Stanford Briefs, 2022)

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the US becomes a second-place nation, can it shed the superpower nostalgia that still haunts the UK? The debate over the US's fading hegemony has r...

Nick Higham, "The Mercenary River: Private Greed, Public Good--A History of London's Water" (Headline, 2022)

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

No city can survive without water, and lots of it. Today we take the stuff for granted: turn a tap and it gushes out. But it wasn’t always so. For c...

Keith Thomson, "Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune" (Little Brown, 2022)

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The year is 1680, in the heart of the Golden Age of Piracy, and more than three hundred daring, hardened pirates—a potent mix of low-life scallywags...

Colin Copus, "In Defence of Councillors" (Manchester UP, 2021)

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Defence of Councillors (Manchester UP, 2021) is an unashamed defence of local representative democracy and of those elected to serve as councillo...

Spenser and Race: A Discussion with Dennis Austin Britton and Kimberly Anne Coles

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s guests are Dennis Austin Britton and Kimberly Anne Coles who have co-edited a special issue of Spenser Studies in 2021, on “Spenser and ...

Kevin Ruane and Matthew Jones, "Anthony Eden, Anglo-American Relations and the 1954 Indochina Crisis" (Bloomsbury, 2019)

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the spring of 1954, after eight years of bitter fighting, the war in Vietnam between the French and the communist-led Vietminh came to a head. With...

Alexandra Apolloni, "Freedom Girls: Voicing Femininity in 1960s British Pop" (Oxford UP, 2021)

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Freedom Girls: Voicing Femininity in 1960s British Pop (Oxford University Press, 2021) by Alexandra M. Apolloni is about how the vocal performances o...

Tony Hall, "Great Trees of Britain and Ireland: Over 70 of the Best Ancient Avenues, Forests and Trees to Visit" (Kew Publications, 2022)

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Boasting Europe's largest number of ancient oaks and yews, Britain and Ireland are home to forests that can be traced back for centuries, feature amaz...

Sarah Fox, "Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England" (U London Press, 2022)

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Fox's fascinating new book Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England (U London Press, 2022) rewrites all that we know about eighteenth-cent...

Ricardo A. Herrera, "Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778" (UNC Press, 2022)

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 (University of North Carolina Press, 2022), Dr. Ricardo Herrera presents a m...

Drew Daniel, "Joy of the Worm: Suicide and Pleasure in Early Modern English Literature" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Advisory: this episode discusses the literary representation of self-harm and suicide, in particular, how writers such as Shakespeare and Milton often...

Leila Neti, "Colonial Law in India and the Victorian Imagination" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Situated at the intersection of law and literature, nineteenth-century studies and post-colonialism, Colonial Law in India and the Victorian Imaginat...

Nick Sharman, "Britain’s Informal Empire in Spain, 1830-1950: Free Trade, Protectionism and Military Power| (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Based on five years of archival research, Britain's Informal Empire in Spain, 1830-1950: Free Trade, Protectionism and Military Power offers a radica...

Nilanjana Paul, "Bengal Muslims and Colonial Education, 1854–1947: A Study of Curriculum, Educational Institutions, and Communal Politics" (Routledge, 2022)

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Dr. Nilanjana Paul of the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley speaks about her new monograph, Bengal Muslims and Colonial Educati...

Annette G. Aubert and Zachary Purvis, "Transatlantic Religion: Europe, America, and the Making of Modern Christianity" (Brill, 2021)

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Annette G. Aubert and Zachary Purvis' edited volume Transatlantic Religion: Europe, America, and the Making of Modern Christianity (Brill, 2021) off...

James Stafford, "The Case of Ireland: Commerce, Empire and the European Order, 1750-1848" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

James Stafford teaches at Columbia University, where he specializes in the political and intellectual history of Ireland, Britain and Western Europe s...

Claire Bellerjeau and Tiffany Yecke Brooks, "Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth" (Lyons Press, 2021)

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Claire Bellerjeau about her book (co-authored with Tiffany Yecke Brooks) Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True S...

Seán William Gannon, "The Irish Imperial Service: Policing Palestine and Administering the Empire, 1922–1966" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Seán William Gannon's book The Irish Imperial Service: Policing Palestine and Administering the Empire, 1922–1966 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) exp...

Alan Lane, "The Club on the Edge of Town: A Pandemic Memoir" (Salamander Street, 2022)

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What happened to arts organisations during the pandemic? In The Club on the Edge of Town: A Pandemic Memoir (Salamander Street, 2022), Alan Lane, A...

Mick Conefrey, "Everest 1922: The Epic Story of the First Attempt on the World's Highest Mountain" (Pegasus Books, 2022)

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It can be hard to think of Everest as unknown anymore. While it’s certainly a challenge to climb the world’s tallest mountain, someone–with enou...

Karène Sanchez Summerer and Sary Zananiri, "European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine, 1918–1948: Between Contention and Connection" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020)

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine (1918-1948) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) investigates the transnationally connected histo...

Moses E. Ochonu, "Emirs in London: Subalteran Travel and Nigeria's Modernity" (Indiana UP, 2022)

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Emirs in London: Subalteran Travel and Nigeria's Modernity (Indiana UP, 2022) recounts how Northern Nigerian Muslim aristocrats who traveled to Brita...

Sarah Irving et al., "'The House of the Priest': A Palestinian Life (1885-1954)" (Brill, 2022)

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

'The House of the Priest': A Palestinian Life (1885-1954) (Brill, 2022) presents and discusses the hitherto unpublished and untranslated memoirs of ...

83* Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz on Zadie Smith

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John and Elizabeth look back at Recall This Book’s terrific 2019 conversation with Zadie Smith , so you may want to listen to that again before pr...

Rizwaan Sabir, "Shadows of Suspicion: Counterterrorism, Muslims and the British Security State" (Pluto Press, 2022)

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What impact has two decades' worth of policing and counterterrorism had on the state of mind of Muslims in Britain? In The Suspect: Counterterrorism,...

Adam Grener, "Improbability, Chance, and the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel" (Ohio State UP, 2020)

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Improbability, Chance, and the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel (Ohio State UP, 2020), Adam Grener advances a new approach to evaluating realism ...

Robert McColl Millar, "Sociolinguistic History of Scotland" (Edinburgh UP, 2020)

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In A Sociolinguistic History of Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), Dr. Robert McColl Millar presents the first sociolinguistic history of ...

82* Zadie Smith in Focus (JP)

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this 2019 episode, John interviews the celebrated British writer Zadie Smith. The conversation quickly moves through Brexit (oh, the inhumanity!) ...