New Books in Critical Theory

Omer Aijazi, "Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Atmospheric Violence: Disaster and Repair in Kashmir (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed co...

Deborah Valenze, "The Invention of Scarcity: Malthus and the Margins of History" (Yale UP, 2023)

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A radical new reading of eighteenth-century British theorist Thomas Robert Malthus, which recovers diverse ideas about subsistence production and envi...

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...

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. ...

Adam Greenfield, "Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire" (Verso, 2024)

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire (Verso, 2024), Adam Greenfield presents a compelling vision for collective resilience in ...

Vanessa Christina Wills, "Marx's Ethical Vision" (Oxford UP, 2024)

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Does Marx have a coherent ethical vision? How does that square with his sometimes-scathing dismissal of morality? What does his critique of capital ha...

Kevin Sanson, "Mobile Hollywood: Labor and the Geography of Production" (U California Press, 2024)

20 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is the future of the film industry? In Mobile Hollywood Labor and the Geography of Production (U California Press, 2024), Kevin Sanson, Prof...

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...

Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings, "The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales" (Oxford UP, 2024)

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is the connection between where people live and how they vote? In The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales (Oxford UP, 2024), Jamie Fur...

Sharad Chari, "Apartheid Remains" (Duke UP, 2024)

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the course of the 20th century, the South African state attempted to construct a “White Man’s Country” on the African continent using the b...

Theo Williams, "Making the Revolution Global: Black Radicalism and the British Socialist Movement before Decolonisation" (Verso, 2022)

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Theo Williams’ Making the Revolution Global: Black Radicalism and the British Socialist Movement before Decolonisation (Verso, 2022) shows how bla...

Eunsong Kim, "The Politics of Collecting: Race and the Aestheticization of Property" (Duke UP, 2024)

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The Politics of Collecting: Race and the Aestheticization of Property (Duke University Press, 2024), Eunsong Kim traces how racial capitalism and...

Chris Cutrone, "Marxism and Politics: Essays on Critical Theory 2006-2024" (Sublation Media, 2024)

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Capitalism is a revolutionary situation of the last stage of pre-history, and the potential and possibility for freedom, or else it is just what Hegel...

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...

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...

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...

A Deep Dive on Karl Marx's "Capital"

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over 150 years ago, Marx published the first volume of Capital, a systematic and voluminous account of capitalism, from the economic bedrock all the ...

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...

Alan F. Blackwell, "Moral Codes: Designing Alternatives to AI" (MIT Press, 2024)

06 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why the world needs less AI and better programming languages. Decades ago, we believed that robots and computers would take over all the boring jobs a...

Kristina Kolbe, "The Sound of Difference: Race, Class and the Politics of 'Diversity' in Classical Music" (Manchester UP, 2024)

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is the future of classical music? In The Sound of Difference: Race, Class and the Politics of 'Diversity' in Classical Music (Manchester UP, 20...

Michael J. Thompson, "Descent of the Dialectic: Phronetic Criticism in an Age of Nihilism" (Routledge, 2024)

05 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Descent of the Dialectic: Phronetic Criticism in an Age of Nihilism (Routledge, 2024), Michael J. Thompson reconstructs the concept and practic...

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...

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...

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 ...

Julia Caterina Hartley, "Iran and French Orientalism: Persia in the Literary Culture of Nineteenth-Century France" (Bloomsbury. 2023)

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Julia Caterina Hartley about Iran and French Orientalism: Persia in the Literary Culture of Nineteenth-Century France (Bloomsbur...

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...

Inés Valdez, "Democracy and Empire: Labor, Nature, and the Reproduction of Capitalism" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In scholarly and popular discourse, popular sovereignty and self-determination are typically conceived of as the antitheses of imperialism, while hist...

Jack A. Goldstone, "Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford UP, 2023)

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In their pursuit of social justice, revolutionaries have taken on the assembled might of monarchies, empires, and dictatorships. They have often, thou...

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...

Caterina Fugazzola, "Words Like Water: Queer Mobilization and Social Change in China" (Temple UP, 2023)

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After China officially “decriminalized” same-sex behavior in 1997, both the visibility and public acceptance of tongzhi, an inclusive identity te...

Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman, "Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite" (Harvard UP, 2024)

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who runs Britain? In Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite (Harvard UP, 2024), Aaron Reeves, and Sam Friedman, both Professo...

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...

Ilias Alami and Adam D. Dixon, "The Spectre of State Capitalism" (Oxford UP, 2024)

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After close to three decades of the hegemony of free market ideas, the state has made a big comeback as an economic actor since the 2008 financial cri...

Sarah Lewis, "The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America" (Harvard UP, 2024)

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a masterpiece of historical detective work, Sarah Lewis exposes one of the most damaging lies in American history. There was a time when Americans ...

Shane Burley and Ben Lorber, "Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism" (Melville House, 2024)

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Antisemitism is on the rise today. From synagogue shootings by white nationalists, to right-wing politicians and media figures pushing George Soros co...

Lucy Weir, "Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury" (Routledge, 2024)

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Can self-harm be art? In Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury (Routledge, 2024), Lucy Weir, a Reader in History of Art at the University of E...

Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s book is: Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions (Columbia UP, 2024), by Ernesto Castaneda and Carina Cione, which is a p...

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, "Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde" (FSG, 2024)

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We remember Audre Lorde as an iconic writer, a quotable teacher whose words and face grace T-shirts, nonprofit annual reports, and campus diversity-ce...

Danny Sriskandarajah, "Power to the People: Use Your Voice, Change the World" (Headline Press, 2024)

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Power to the People: Use Your Voice, Change the World (Headline Press, 2024) is Danny Sriskandarajah‘s radical manifesto for change designed to ins...

Karl Marx, "Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1" (Princeton UP, 2024)

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was living in exile in England when he embarked on an ambitious, multivolume critique of the capitalist system of production. Th...

Decolonial Muslim Political Activism and Thought in Britain

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hizer Mir in conversation with Yahya Birt who speaks on decolonial Muslim political activism and thought in Britain. Learn more about your ad choices....

Melissa Osborne, "Polished: College, Class, and the Burdens of Social Mobility" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do people go to college? In Polished: College, Class, and the Burdens of Social Mobility (U Chicago Press, 2024), Melissa Osborne, an associat...

Josh Cowen, "The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers" (Harvard Education Press, 2024)

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

School vouchers are often framed as a way to help students and families by providing choice, but evidence shows that vouchers have a negative impact o...

Are We Experiencing a Crisis of Culture?

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey spoke with Olivier Roy, professor of social and political sciences at the European...

Red Chidgey and Joanne Garde-Hansen, "Museums, Archives and Protest Memory" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Museums, Archives and Protest Memory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), Red Chidgey and Joanne Garde-Hansen address the emergence of ‘protest memory’...

Jess Whatcott, "Menace to the Future: A Disability and Queer History of Carceral Eugenics" (Duke UP, 2024)

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Menace to the Future: A Disability and Queer History of Carceral Eugenics (Duke UP, 2024), Jess Whatcott traces the link between US disability in...

Oren Kroll-Zeldin, "Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine" (NYU Press, 2024)

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine (NYU Press, 2024) digs into the experiences of young Jewish Americans who engage ...

David H. Price, "The American Surveillance State: How the US Spies on Dissent" (Pluto Press, 2022)

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the possibility of wiretapping first became known to Americans they were outraged. Now, in our post-9/11 world, it's accepted that corporations a...

David Lay Williams, "The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx" (Princeton UP, 2024)

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Political Theorist David Lay Williams has a new book that traces the problem of economic inequality through the thought of many of the canonical think...

Andy Clarno et al., "Imperial Policing: Weaponized Data in Carceral Chicago" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chicago is a city with extreme concentrations of racialized poverty and inequity, one that relies on an extensive network of repressive agencies to po...

How Mechanisms of Psychoanalytic Defense Perpetuate Racism in America

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The third podcast in this series focuses on an article written by Dr. Dionne Powell who participated in the 2014 documentary, “Black Psychoanalysts...

Karyne E. Messina, "The Power of Community: A 45 Day Action Plan to Stop Trump from Turning Our Democracy into His Autocracy" (PI Press, 2024)

01 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An Amazon # 1 top release Kindle book during its debut, The Power of Community: A 45 Day Action Plan to Stop Trump from Turning Our Democracy into Hi...

Beth Driscoll, "What Readers Do: Aesthetic and Moral Practices of a Post-Digital Age" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is reading? In What Readers Do: Aesthetic and Moral Practices of a Post-Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2024) Beth Driscoll, an Associate Professor...

Tadashi Dozono, "Discipline Problems: How Students of Color Trouble Whiteness in Schools" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Angel, a Black tenth-grader at a New York City public school, self-identifies as a nerd and likes to learn. But she’s troubled that her history clas...

Susan Greenhalgh, "Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola (U Chicago Press, 2024) takes readers deep inside the secret world of corporate science, where powe...

Ronnie Grinberg, "Write like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals" (Princeton UP, 2024)

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the years following World War II, the New York intellectuals became some of the most renowned critics and writers in the country. Although mostly m...

Bhaskar Sunkara, "The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality" (Basic Books, 2020)

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality (Basic Books, 2020), Bhaskar Sunkara explores socialism's ...

Ludovico Silva, "Marx's Literary Style" (Verso, 2023)

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Marx’s Literary Style, the Venezuelan poet and philosopher Ludovico Silva argues that much of the confusion around Marx’s work results from ...

Matt Brim, "Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University" (Duke UP, 2020)

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University (Duke UP, 2020), Matt Brim shifts queer studies away from its familiar sites of elite e...

Nazmul Sultan, "Waiting for the People: The Idea of Democracy in Indian Anticolonial Thought" (Harvard UP, 2024)

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Indians, their former British rulers asserted, were unfit to rule themselves. Behind this assertion lay a foundational claim about the absence of peop...

Christopher B. Patterson and Tara Fickle, "Made in Asia/America: Why Video Games Were Never (Really) about Us" (Duke UP, 2024)

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Made in Asia/America: Why Video Games Were Never (Really) about Us (Duke UP, 2024) explores the key role video games play within the race makings of ...

Jennifer Ponce de León, "Another Aesthetics Is Possible: Arts of Rebellion in the Fourth World War" (Duke UP, 2021)

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Another Aesthetics Is Possible: Arts of Rebellion in the Fourth World War (Duke UP, 2021), Jennifer Ponce de León examines the roles that art c...

Claire Carter et al., "Contemporary Vulnerabilities: Reflections on Social Justice Methodologies" (U Alberta Press, 2024)

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Contemporary Vulnerabilities: Reflections on Social Justice Methodologies (U Alberta Press, 2024) centres on critical reflections about vulnerable mo...

Bessie N. Rigakos and Wesley R. Bishop, "Liberating Fat Bodies: Social Media Censorship and Body Size Activism" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Using a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, Liberating Fat Bodies: Social Media Censorship and Body Size Activism (Palgrave Macmillan, 20...

Literatures beyond the West

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Salman Sayyid talks to Ian Almond about his work in world literature, including his 2021 book World Literature Decentered which look...

Joachim C. Häberlen, "Beauty Is in the Street: Protest and Counterculture in Post-War Europe" (Penguin, 2023)

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In post-war Europe, protest was everywhere. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, from Paris to Prague, Milan to Wroclaw, ordinary people took to the str...

Karen Patel, "Craft as a Creative Industry" (Routledge, 2024)

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How can we diversify the creative industries? In Craft as a Creative Industry (Routledge, 2024), Karen Patel, an Associate Professor in Media an...

Peter Allen, “The Political Class: Why It Matters Who Our Politicians Are” (Oxford UP, 2018)

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who is in charge? In The Political Class: Why It Matters Who Our Politicians Are (Oxford University Press, 2018), Peter Allen, a Reader in Comparati...

Raj Jayadev, "Protect Your People: How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration" (New Press, 2023)

18 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over two million Americans are currently in prison or jail. Another 4.5 million are on probation or parole. And nearly one in two Americans have a fam...

Sudhir Kakar, "The Indian Jungle: Psychoanalysis and Non-Western Civilizations" (Karnac, 2024)

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast, Ashis Roy (Psychoanalyst (IPA) and author of the recently published book Intimacy in Alienation: A Psychoanalytic Study of Hindu-Mus...

Matthew Archer, "Unsustainable: Measurement, Reporting, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability" (NYU Press, 2024)

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, companies have felt the pressure to be transparent about their environmental impact. Large documents containing summaries of yearly e...

Decoloniality

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is the third one this series where we look back over the first principles of the ReOrient project. In previous episodes we have discussed...

Policing and White Power with Daniel Kryder and David Cunningham (JP, EF)

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This June 2020 episode, originally part of a Global Policing series, was Recall this Book's first exploration of police brutality, systemic and pers...

Anthony Abraham Jack, "Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price" (Princeton UP, 2024)

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elite colleges are boasting unprecedented numbers with respect to diversity, with some schools admitting their first majority-minority classes. But wh...

Tehila Sasson, "The Solidarity Economy: Nonprofits and the Making of Neoliberalism after Empire" (Princeton UP, 2024)

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After India gained independence in 1947, Britain reinvented its role in the global economy through nongovernmental aid organisations. Utilising existi...

Miguel Montalva Barba, "White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space" (Policy Press, 2024)

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

White Supremacy and Racism in Progressive America: Race, Place, and Space (Policy Press, 2024) examines the connections between race, place, and spac...

Craig Gent, "Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work" (Verso, 2024)

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Across the world, algorithms are changing the nature of work. Nowhere is this clearer than in the logistics and distribution sectors, where workers ar...

Soar and Chill

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do certain musical sounds move us while others leave us cold? Are musical trends simply that—or do they contain insights into the culture at lar...

Spencer Piston, “Class Attitudes in American Politics: Sympathy for the Poor, Resentment of the Rich, and Political Implications” (Cambridge UP, 2018)

11 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It has long been a truism that Americans’ disdain for poor people–our collective sense that if they only worked harder or behaved more responsibly...

Frederick Luis Aldama, "Decolonizing Latinx Masculinities" (U Arizona Press, 2020)

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An early wave of research helped make visible the complex dynamics of sexuality and gender norms in Latino life, but a new generation of scholars is b...

Neoliberalism and the University, Part 2

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. This podcast is a multimodal project powered by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Co...

Jacob Soll, "Free Market: The History of an Idea" (Basic Books, 2022)

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After two government bailouts of the American economy in less than twenty years, free market thought is due for serious reappraisal. Free Market: The...

Alice Mah, "Petrochemical Planet: Multiscalar Battles of Industrial Transformation" (Duke UP, 2023)

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is a green future possible? In Petrochemical Planet: Multiscalar Battles of Industrial Transformation (Duke UP, 2023), Alice Mah, a Professor in U...

The Role of Psychoanalytic Mechanisms of Defense; What They Are and How They Work

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Using one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s major ideas as a springboard for their discussion, “The truth will set you free,” the host and co-host...

Anne Gray Fischer, "The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification" (UNC Press, 2022)

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Gray Fischer speaks about her path to and through research, including how sex workers informed her analysis of policing and state violence, the...

Douglas Greene, "The New Reformism and the Revival of Karl Kautsky: The Renegade's Revenge" (Routledge, 2024)

04 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Returning to the New Books Network is Doug Greene, here to discuss his book The New Reformism and the Revival of Karl Kautsky (Routledge, 2024). Sp...

Susan Stryker, "When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader" (Duke UP, 2024)

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Stryker is a foundational figure in trans studies. When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader (Duke UP, 2024) showcases the development of St...

Laura Beers. "Orwell’s Ghosts Wisdom and Warnings for the 21st Century" (Norton, 2024)

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is Orwell still relevant today?  In Orwell’s Ghosts Wisdom and Warnings for the 21st Century (Norton, 2024), Laura Beers, a Professor of Histor...

Neoliberalism and the University, Part 1

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. This podcast is a multimodal project powered by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Co...

Bernard E. Harcourt. "Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory" (Columbia UP, 2023)

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Liberal democracy is in crisis around the world, unable to address pressing problems such as climate change. There is, however, another path—coopera...

Jan Eeckhout, "The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work" (Princeton UP, 2021)

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is a truth universally acknowledged that as a society we want successful, profitable companies because, as Jan Eeckhout says in The Profit Parado...

Musa al-Gharbi, "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite" (Princeton UP, 2024)

28 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How a new "woke" elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power and status--without helping the marginalized and disadvantaged. Society ...

Jonathan Branfman, "Millennial Jewish Stars: Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy" (NYU Press, 2024)

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jewish stars have longed faced pressure to downplay Jewish identity for fear of alienating wider audiences. But unexpectedly, since the 2000s, many mi...

Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward, "Fascism in America: Past and Present" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Has fascism arrived in America?  In Fascism in America: Past and Present (Cambridge UP, 2023), Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward have gathered ex...

Arie Perliger, "American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism" (Columbia UP, 2020)

21 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In an unsettling time in American history, the outbreak of right-wing violence is among the most disturbing developments. In recent years, attacks ori...

Lucia Hulsether, "Capitalist Humanitarianism" (Duke UP, 2023)

21 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The struggle against neoliberal order has gained momentum over the last five decades – to the point that economic elites have not only adapted to th...

Breanne Fahs, "Burn It Down: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution" (Verso, 2020)

21 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Burn It Down: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution (Verso, 2020), Breanne Fahs has curated a comprehensive collection of feminist manifestos from t...

Ujju Aggarwal, "Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do universal rights to public goods like education mean when codified as individual, private choices? Is the “problem” of school choice actua...

Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s book is: Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit (U Chicago Press, 2024), by Dr. Robin Bernste...

Mahjabeen Dhala, "Feminist Theology and Social Justice in Islam: A Study on the Sermon of Fatima" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, has an interesting legacy, one that is often shaped by sectarian differences and tensions. The sermon of Fa...