New Books in Public Policy
Episodes
Walter Olson, “Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America” (Encounter Books, 2011)
01 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of education are students at top American law schools getting? And how does that education influence their activities upon graduation? In Wa...
Elizabeth Pisani, “The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS” (Norton, 2008)
24 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
When in medical school, I found myself drawn to the study of infectious diseases in large part because of the mixture of science and anthropology – ...
Paul Offit, “Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All” (Basic Books, 2011)
25 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
If a parent decides not to vaccinate their children, is that an individual choice, or is it a serious threat to the public health? In Deadly Choices: ...
Brandon L. Garrett, “Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong” (Harvard UP, 2011)
25 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Wrongful conviction is, both morally and practically, the worst mistake that society can inflict on an individual. From Franz Kafka to Errol Morris, f...
Teresa Gowan, “Hobos, Hustlers and Backsliders-Homeless in San Francisco” (University of Minnesota Press, 2010)
25 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Why do people become homeless? Is it because some people have made bad decisions in their lives or can’t hold onto a stable job? Or is homelessness ...
Robert Goldberg, “Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used to Hijack Medical Science for Fear and Profit” (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
18 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
This week New Books in Public Policy interviews Bob Goldberg about his new book Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet Is Being Used to Hijack Medical Sci...
Beth Bailey, “America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force” (Harvard UP, 2009)
18 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The United States Army is a product of our society and its values (for better and for worse), but it also makes claims to shape our society – and of...
James Fleming, “Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control” (Columbia UP, 2010)
20 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 2008 the Chinese were worried about rain. They were set to host the Summer Olympics that year, and they wanted clear skies. Surely cl...
Nick Reding, “Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town” (Bloomsbury, 2009)
14 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
In 1980 I left Kansas to go to college in Iowa. A lot of things caught my attention about Iowa, for example, that the people really are very nice. I a...
Colin Gordon, “Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008)
09 May 2008
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have Professor Colin Gordon of the University of Iowa on the show talking about his new book Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of t...