New Books Network

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, "The Surgeon's Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War" (UNC Press, 2025)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Between May 1 and May 22, 1863, Union soldiers marched nearly 200 miles through the hot, humid countryside to assault and capture the fortified city o...

Wout Saelens, "Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries" (Leuven UP, 2026)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries (Leuven UP, 2026) by Dr. Wout Saelens explores how the homes ...

Christine Grandy, "Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth-Century Britain" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What is the role of television in the history of the UK? In Race on Screen: Audience Racism in Twentieth-Century Britain (Cambridge UP, 2026) Chris...

Philip Boris Uninsky, "Invented Lives from Troubled Times: A Jewish Family’s Forms of Resilience after Surviving Pogroms, Revolution, and the Holocaust" (Cherry Orchard Books, 2025)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How do people rebuild their lives after unimaginable upheaval—and what stories do they tell along the way? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits dow...

Daniel Rachel, "This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich" (Akashic Books, 2026)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last seven decades, some of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theater of the Third Reich. From Ke...

Nancy Hudgins, "Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom" (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2026)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Interview with Nancy Hudgins, author of children's book Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom (Abrams Books for Youn...

Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello, "Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State" (Cornell UP, 2017)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The book, Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State (Cornell UP, 2017) is Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello’s efforts to account f...

Amir Saemi, "Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond: A New Problem of Evil" (Oxford UP, 2024)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Amir Saemi’s exciting book Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond: A New Problem of Evil (Oxford UP, 2024) is a fascinating and dee...

Guy Pinsent: Banker, Diplomat, Entrepreneur & CEO, Founder of Poland/Czech Republic's Largest Self-Storage Business

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this engaging conversation, Guy Pinsent shares his entrepreneurial journey from Cambridge economics student, being a banker in the City, to the For...

Beth Derderian, "Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi" (Stanford UP, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—...

Cameron Sullivan, "The Red Winter" (Tor Books, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Cameron Sullivan’s novel The Red Winter (Tor Books, 2026) follows Sebastian Grave, a centuries old monster hunter, recounting events that occu...

Zhou Meisen, "Property of the People" (Sinoist, 2025)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"Honoured Investors, As Zhongfu Group enters its eighth decade, we are pleased to announce the acquisition of two famous coal mines. These assets fur...

Peter E. Gordon, "Walter Benjamin: The Pearl Diver" (Yale UP, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) is widely considered one of the most creative cultural critics of the twentieth century. Esteemed for his literary acume...

Isabelle Held, "Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies" (Duke UP, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bullet bras, bazookas, bombshells, bikinis. In Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies (Duke UP, 2026), Dr. Isabelle Held challenges t...

Caroline Tracey, "Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History" (W. W. Norton, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Salt lakes are some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes that you can find on this planet, even as they can be quite alien to people used to f...

Danielle Bainbridge, "Currencies of Cruelty: Slavery, Freak Shows, and the Performance Archive" (NYU Press, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Currencies of Cruelty: Slavery, Freak Shows, and the Performance Archive (NYU Press, 2026) is a bold and incisive reconsideration of the relationship...

Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Marty Friedman is a multi-platinum recording artist and government-appointed Ambassador to Japan Heritage. He has written three books in Japanese and ...

Tim Cresswell, "The Citizen and the Vagabond: A Politics of Mobility" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An expansive treatise on the power relations that govern our movement The Citizen and the Vagabond: A Politics of Mobility (U Minnesota Press, 2026)...

Avner Greif et al., "Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000" (Princeton UP, 2025)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one of the biggest questions in economic history: How did a richer, more advanced China fall behind Europe? Why was Europe the home of the Indu...

Melissa Auf der Maur, "Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir" (DaCapo, 2026)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Melissa Auf der Maur's new memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir(DaCapo, 2026) is a remarkably open-hearted, clear-eyed memoir of...

Chiang Mai 2015

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Gastronomica podcast returns to the air, bringing listeners new interviews with authors from the latest issues of Gastronomica: The Journal for...

Robert Parish with Jake Uitti, "The Chief: The Story of the Boston Celtics’ Most Enigmatic Icon" (Triumph, 2026)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A memoir of basketball, dedication, and longevity from Boston Celtics legend Robert Parish Growing up in the heart of Louisiana, Robert Parish and hi...

Amelia Frank-Vitale, "Leave If You Can: Migration and Violence in Bordered Worlds" (U California Press, 2026)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The consequences of U.S. border policies through the experiences of Honduran migrants. Hondurans have been at the heart of some of the most visible mi...

Fighting Social Isolation And Loneliness: The Importance Of Good Processes And Hosting In Community Leadership

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

NBN host Richard Lucas being interviewed by Alexander Goldman. Normally on this channel, you hear Richard Lucas interviewing interesting guests. In t...

The Gen Z Revolution in Bangladesh and Its Fallout

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What role did Gen Z play in the popular uprising that led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in the summer of 2024? And what marks have the upris...

Asif Iqbal, "Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation" (Routledge, 2025)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bangladesh in Anglophone and Vernacular Literature: Cultural Imaginings of a Postcolonial Nation (Routledge, 2025) illuminates individual and collec...

Rethinking Kishinev: How a Riot Changed 20th Century Jewish History

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kishinev's 1903 pogrom was the first event in Russian Jewish life to receive international attention. The riot, leaving 49 dead in an obscure border t...

Shredding Capitalism with Sven Beckert (Paul Kramer, JP)

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

John is joined by the brilliant and affable Paul Kramer of Vanderbilt (The Blood of Government) to discuss Capitalism: A Global History (Penguin,...

The Club: Where American Artists Found Refuge in Belle Epoque Paris

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Belle Époque Paris, the Eiffel Tower was newly built, France was experiencing remarkable political stability, and American women were painting the...

Robert Hall, "Building Resilient Futures" (Austin Macauley, 2023)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Explore resilience from personal, organizational, and national perspectives with expert Robert Hall in this discussion of his book Building Resili...

Kristina Jonutytė, "Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia (Cornell UP, 2026) by Dr. Kristina Jonut...

Indology in Canada Conference: A Conversation with Dagmar Wujastyk

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing a new conference to showcase the breadth and vitality of Canadian research on premodern India. We discuss the vision behind the conference...

Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“Japanese war crimes are notorious. During the Second World War, as Japanese forces overran Southeast Asia and the Pacific, they massacred, murdered...

Michael Mann Reconsidered: Heat and Collateral

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the Pop Culture Professors, and in this show we conclude our series on the films of Michael Mann. Structured as a knock-out tournament, we have...

Eric Ries, "Incorruptible" (Authors Equity, 2026)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Ries shares how financial 'gravity' pulls great companies away from their founders' purpose, and his solutions in his new book Incorruptible ...

The Gospel According to Josephus: A Conversation with Thomas C. Schmidt, Part 1

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this fourth episode of Season 5, I interview Professor Thomas C. Schmidt, a historian who focuses on the New Testament, Patristics, and Eastern Ch...

Lee Ann S. Wang, "The Violence of Protection: Policing, Immigration Law, and Asian American Women" (Duke UP, 2026)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Violence of Protection: Policing, Immigration Law, and Asian American Women (Duke UP, 2026) examines U.S. laws designed to rescue immigrant survi...

Philip Wingeier-Rayo, "John Wesley and the Origins of Methodist Missions" (Abingdon Press, 2025) 

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It is broadly understood that John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement that spread around the world in the eighteenth century. He is know...

Katherine Harvey, "The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living" (Reaktion, 2026)

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of medieval medicine as strange, unhygienic and unscientific, but The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Kather...

Hans A. Harmakaputra, "Christian-Muslim Relations in Post-Reformation Indonesia: Resistance, Identity and Belonging" (Edinburgh UP, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The post-Reformation era has witnessed a vastly changing landscape in Indonesian Islam, particularly with the emergence of conservative Muslim voices....

Arthur W. Gullachsen, "The Defeat and Attrition of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend: Volume II: Operations Martlet, Epsom, Windsor and Charnwood 11 June-12 July 1944" (Casemate, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Following the Normandy landings, Rommel rushed Heeresgruppe B reserves towards the coast in order to crush the bridgehead and drive the Allied forc...

Teddy Jones, "Far From Uncertain: One Woman’s Life of Crime and Other Righteous Deeds" (Stoney Creek, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When a young reporter comes to interview Margaret Kenyon, the oldest practicing nurse in the Texas panhandle, she tells him that he’ll have to liste...

Christina Schwenkel, "Sonic Socialism: Crisis and Care in Pandemic Hanoi" (U California Press, 2025)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In an era dominated by visual information, what can the sounds of a pandemic reveal about crisis and care? How might attuning to sonic atmospheres unc...

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, "Everything You Wanted to Know about China*: * But Were Afraid to Ask" (Brixton Ink, 2025)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does Xi Jinping share with Mao Zedong? Why is Confucius still central to a communist state? What really happened in Tiananmen Square—and why is...

Peter Mauch, "Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General" (Harvard UP, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The military general who became Emperor Hirohito’s prime minister, Tojo Hideki is most often remembered as an iron-fisted leader who dragged Japan i...

Allan Greer, "Canada in the Age of Rum" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Awash in a sea of rum describes the years between the 1670s and the 1830s in the colonies that would later become Canada. Millions of litres of the su...

Jeanne-Marie Jackson, "The Letter of the Law in J. E. Casely Hayford's West Africa" (Princeton UP, 2026)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The African Gold Coast writer and statesman J. E. Casely Hayford (1866–1930) was a key figure in liberal anticolonial thought as well as African and...

Teaching English Pronunciation

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Language on the Move podcast Dr Hanna Torsh talks to Lindsay McMahon, founder of the All Ears English Podcast, about pronunc...

Tyesha Maddox, "A Home Away from Home: Mutual Aid, Political Activism, and Caribbean American Identity" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A Home Away from Home: Mutual Aid, Political Activism, and Caribbean American Identity (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) examines the signif...

Caste and Tech with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode features a conversation with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute about how caste structures IT workspaces and communication infrastru...

Pre-Reading

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of High Theory, Milan Terlunen talks to Kim about Pre-Reading. There are many books we will never read and films we will never watch, ...

Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Ryukyu Islands between Japan and Taiwan consist of around 160 islands and are home to about 1.5 million inhabitants. Across the islands' history, ...

Patricia B. O'Hara, "Food Chemistry in Small Bites: The Alchemist in the Kitchen" (U California Press, 2025)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Food Chemistry in Small Bites takes readers on an up-close scientific journey through the transformation of food when meals are prepared. Organized i...

Vojta Hybl, "Rocks: A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell" (Frances Lincoln, 2026)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What is that rock you’ve just picked up? Which minerals is it made of, what’s unique about it and what can it reveal about Earth’s deeper story?...

Ben Collier on Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Ben Co...

Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese Food

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese f...

Derek Krueger "Monastic Desires: Homoeroticism, Homophobia, and the Love of God in Medieval Constantinople" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Derek Krueger Monastic Desires: Homoeroticism, Homophobia, and Love of God in Medieval Constantinople (Cambridge UP, 2026) The Byzantine Abbot Syme...

Mark Pennington, "Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge, and Freedom" (Oxford UP, 2025)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Foucault and Liberal Political Economy: Power, Knowledge, and Freedom by Mark Pennington This highly original and innovative book is the first to co...

Alison Gadsby, "Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive" (Guernica Editions, 2026)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

n this NBN episode, NBN host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Alison Gadsby about her collection of short fiction, Breathing is How Some People Stay Alive (...

Ainehi Edoro, "Forest Imaginaries: How African Novels Think" (Columbia UP, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Forests in fiction are often understood simply as settings, symbols, or remnants of a premodern past. Yet many African novelists have turned to the fo...

Michael Allan, "Cinema before the World: The Global Routes of the Lumière Brothers" (Fordham UP, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Cinema Before the World: The Global Routes of the Lumière Brothers (Fordham UP, 2026) investigates the transnational origins of filmmaking by focus...

Matthew Guariglia and Brian Hochman, "The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into the National Security State" (W. W. Norton & Co, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fifty years ago, a government investigation led by US senator Frank Church uncovered some of the darkest state secrets of the twentieth century. The C...

Kristin Ciupa, "The Political Economy of Oil in Venezuela: Class Conflict, the State, and the World Market" (Brill, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Political Economy of Oil in Venezuela: Class Conflict, the State, and the World Market (Brill, 2026) is the latest book from Dr. Kristin Ciup...

Sarah Berman, "Haggadah Shel Erev Rav: The Mixed Multitude Haggadah" (CCAR Press, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to tell the Passover story as a truly diverse people? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with editor Rabbi Sarah Berman to d...

Nikita Kaur Simpson, "Tension: Mental Distress and Embodied Inequality in the Western Himalayas" (Duke UP, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Tension: Mental Distress and Embodied Inequality in the Western Himalayas (Duke UP, 2026), Dr. Nikita Kaur Simpson examines the effects of rapid ...

Christopher Wright Mitchell, "The Song of Songs - Concordia Commentary" (Concordia Publishing, 2001)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What is the Song of Songs about? Christopher Mitchell, in his Concordia Commentary, explains it as Solomon's most beautiful poem, containing a profoun...

Emmanuel Ofuasia, "Ìwà: the Process-Relational Dimension to African Metaphysics" (Springer, 2024)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Correction: In the interview, the host mistakenly mentioned that Prof. Ofuasia is teaching the University of Pretoria. In reality, Prof Ofuasia is c...

David Ost, "Red Pill Politics: Demystifying Today's Far Right" (New Press, 2026)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Around the globe, far-right political parties and movements are on the march, winning popular support, legislative seats, and presidencies--and stokin...

Nick Juravich, "Para Power: How Paraprofessional Labor Changed Education" (U Illinois Press, 2024)

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we're speaking with Nicholas Juravich, author of Para Power: How Paraprofessional Labor Changed Education (U Illinois Press, 2024). I...

Nicholas W. Gentile, "Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution" (U Mass Press, 2025)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas W. Gentile complicates our understanding of the American Revolution through a microhistory of one Massachusetts town in his new book, Enemie...

Nellie Chu, "Precarious Accumulation: Fast Fashion Bosses in Transnational Guangzhou" (Duke UP, 2026)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Precarious Accumulation: Fast Fashion Bosses in Transnational Guangzhou (Duke UP, 2026), the cultural anthropologist Nellie Chu tells the story o...

Mark Hlavacik, "Willing Warriors: A New History of the Education Culture Wars" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How the rise of the culture wars afflicts the politics of education.  On August 9, 2022, the Denton Independent School District held a meeting to ad...

Zheng Liu, "Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China" (Columbia UP, 2026)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In recent decades, self-proclaimed “independent bookstores” have arisen across China. In the West, such retailers represent an alternative to corp...

On Our Continuing Age of Oil with Journalist Stanley Reed

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stanley Reed has been covering energy and the Middle East from London for more than three decades, most recently for The New York Times. With the...

Colloquies on European Civil Procedure: A Conversation with Marco de Benito

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This volume brings law to life through a free and lively dialogue on the new Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. In it, some of Europe's leading ...

Elisheva Baumgarten, "Beyond the Elite: Everyday Jewish Lives in Medieval Northern Europe" (Cornell UP, 2026)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What can we learn about Jewish history when we stop focusing on great rabbis and turn instead to ordinary people? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz spe...

Megan Peiser, "British Women Novelists and the Review Periodical" (JHU Press, 2026)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At the turn of the nineteenth century, British women novelists were publishing more fiction than their male counterparts, yet their place in literary ...

Thomas Hegghammer and Diego Gambetta eds., "Fight, Flight, Mimic: Identity Mimicry in Conflict" (Oxford UP, 2024)

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Time spent and words spent—what does each signal? Deceptive mimicry—the manipulation of individual or group identity—includes passing off as a ...

Sarah James, "The Politics of Failed Policies" (Oxford UP, 2025)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Politics of Failed Policies (Oxford UP, 2025) examines how the interplay of politics and data affects when failed policies get recognized. It sh...

Dovev Lavie, "The Cooperative Economy: A Solution to Societal Grand Challenges" (Routledge, 2023)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Societal grand challenges have taken a toll on humanity, which finds itself at a crossroads. The concentration of wealth and economic inequality, the ...

Sarah Howe, "Foretokens" (Random House, 2025)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

'Unearthed in a clear-out, a picture calendar she’s kept– hoarding, I’ve learnt, is a mark of the emigrant –across continents and time.'So beg...

Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra, "Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections" (Neptune Publications, 2023)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in early Photographs and Collections by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra (Neptune Publications, 2023) i...

Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his recently released book Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan ...

John Kuhn, "Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Pr...

Michael Mann Reconsidered: Ali and The Last of the Mohicans

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the Pop Culture Professors, and in this show we start a series on the films of Michael Mann. Structured as a knock-out tournament, we set his e...

Yiddish in Israel: A History

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The new book Yiddish in Israel: A History (Indiana UP, 2020) challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Isr...

James McDougall, "Worlds of Islam: A Global History" (Basic Books, 2026)

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. In Worlds of Islam: A Global History (Basic Books, 2026), James ...

Tom Wells, "The Kissinger Tapes: Inside His Secretly Recorded Phone Conversations" (Oxford UP, 2026)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A richly detailed collection of transcripts of Henry Kissinger's secretly recorded phone conversations from his time in the Nixon administration that ...

The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Most employers in the United States routinely conduct criminal background checks on job applicants, weeding out those with criminal convictions—a...

10.2 Beautiful Sentences Matter. Billy-Ray Belcourt and Matt Hooley (SW)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Can a novel with a singular voice also be a chorus? Can it reject the conventions of the novel and still be a novel? Poet, essayist, and novelist Bil...

Tulasi Srinivas, "The Goddess in the Mirror: An Anthropology of Beauty" (Duke UP, 2025)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In The Goddess in the Mirror: An Anthropology of Beauty (Duke UP, 2025), Tulasi Srinivas offers a pathbreaking ethnography of contemporary India...

Maya L. Kornberg, "Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress" (JHU Press, 2026)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why fifty years of changemaking and reform haven't fixed Congress—and what that reveals about American democracy. Congress, the central democratic i...

167* Addiction with Gina Turrigiano (EF, JP)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Recall This Book's second episode (January 2019) John and Elizabeth spoke with their brilliant Brandeis colleague, the MacArthur-winning neuroscien...

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, "The Battle of Manila: Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War" (Oxford UP, 2025)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On Feb. 6, 1945, just three days after the U.S. army started to fight the Japanese in the city of Manila, General Douglas MacArthur declared that “M...

Erica Morawski, "Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Underneath picturesque views of palm trees, fruity cocktails in hotel lounges, and day trips to preserved colonial zones lies a history of tourism des...

Cathryn J. Prince, "For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman" (U Illinois Press, 2026)

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

My guest today is Cathryn J. Prince the author of For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman (U Illinois Press, 2026). From her start ...

Decolonising Colonial Collections: Repatriation and Cultural Competence in Museums with guest Marika Duczynski

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Cultural Competence Collective welcomes Marika Duczynski onto the podcast to discuss cultural competence, decolonial practices, and community-led...

S. D. Ellison, "Hope for a New David in the Psalter's Narrative Impulse: Reading the Psalms as Utopian Literature" (Fortress Academic, 2025)

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Does the Psalter have a unified theme or message? Davy Ellison says, “Yes!” In his new book Hope for a New David in the Psalter's Narrative Im...

Crystal Simone Smith, "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure" (Beacon, 2026)

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This powerful work by award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith exposes the uncomfortable truth about America’s founding text: while Common Sense is...

Crystal Simone Smith, "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure" (Beacon, 2026)

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This powerful work by award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith exposes the uncomfortable truth about America’s founding text: while Common Sense is...