New Books Network
NBN Book of the Day
History March 2, 2021

Calhoun

American Heretic

Robert Elder

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Calhoun: American Heretic (Basic Books, 2021), historian Robert Elder documents the life and thought of one of America's most controversial statesman, John C. Calhoun. A congressman, a vice president, and a senator, Calhoun represented Jeffersonian republicanism during a time of national expansion and imperialism. He became the nation's most ardent defender of slavery and one of its most complex thinkers on the issue of state sovereignty. Elder's book reconsiders the legacy …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast March 1, 2021

The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer

A Discussion with Marion Turner

Marion Turner

Hosted by Marshall Poe
More than any other canonical English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer lived and worked at the centre of political life—yet his poems are anything but conventional. Edgy, complicated, and often dark, they …
History February 26, 2021

Pirating and Publishing

The Book Trade in the Age of Enlightenment

Robert Darnton

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
In the late-18th century, a group of publishers in what historian Robert Darnton calls the "Fertile Crescent" — countries located along the French border, stretching from Holland to Switzerland — …
Political Science February 25, 2021

Madam President?

Gender and Politics on the Road to the White House

Lori Cox Han and Caroline Heldman

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Lori Cox Han and Caroline Heldman, both scholars of gender and politics as well as scholars of the American Presidency, have assembled a wide array of essays[*] to revisit the …
Christian Studies February 24, 2021

God's Cold Warrior

The Life and Faith of John Foster Dulles

John D. Wilsey

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
When John Foster Dulles died in 1959, he was given the largest American state funeral since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in 1945. President Eisenhower called Dulles—his longtime secretary of state—“one of …
African American Studies February 23, 2021

Women's War

Fighting and Surviving the Civil War

Stephanie Mccurry

Hosted by Jerrad Pacatte
In Women's War: Fighting and Surviving the Civil War (Harvard UP, 2019), the award-winning author of Confederate Reckoning challenges the idea that women are outside of war, through a trio of dramatic …
Political Science February 22, 2021

Separate But Faithful

The Christian Right's Radical Struggle to Transform Law and Legal Culture

Amanda Hollis-Brusky and Joshua C. Wilson

Hosted by Susan Liebell
How do we understand the nuances of efforts by Christian conservatives to affect American law – and evaluate their success? What lessons do they hold for other social movements? Dr …
History February 19, 2021

The Way of Bach

Three Years with the Man, the Music, and the Piano

Dan Moller

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
A tale of passion and obsession from a philosophy professor who learns to play Bach on the piano as an adult. Dan Moller grew up listening to heavy metal in the …
National Security February 18, 2021

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

The Cyberweapons Arms Race

Nicole Perlroth

Hosted by John Sakellariadis
For years, cybersecurity experts have debated whether cyber-weapons represent a destabilizing new military technology or merely the newest tool in the spy’s arsenal. In This Is How They Tell Me …
Neuroscience February 17, 2021

On Task

How Our Brain Gets Things Done

David Badre

Hosted by Joseph Fridman
On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (Princeton UP, 2020) is a look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives.  …
Gender Studies February 16, 2021

Me, Not You

The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism

Alison Phipps

Hosted by Jana Byars
We are joined today by Alison Phipps, Professor in Gender Studies and the University of Sussex to talk about her newest book, Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism (Manchester …
Medicine February 12, 2021

Psychoanalysis in Medicine

Applying Psychoanalytic Thought to Contemporary Medical Care

Paul Ian Steinberg

Hosted by Alec Kacew
In today’s program, Dr. Paul Steinberg, a psychiatrist and clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, discusses his recently released book Psychoanalysis in Medicine: Applying Psychoanalytic Thought to Contemporary …
History February 11, 2021

Inca Apocalypse

The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World

R. Alan Covey

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The arrival in 1532 of a small group of Spanish conquistadores at the Andean town of Cajamarca launched one of the most dramatic – and often misunderstood – events in …
Medicine February 10, 2021

The Future of Brain Repair

A Realist`s Guide to Stem Cell Therapy

Jack Price

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
A scientist assesses the potential of stem cell therapies for treating such brain disorders as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Stem cell therapies are the subject of enormous hype …
Public Policy February 9, 2021

Ending Hunger

The Quest to Feed the World without Destroying It

Anthony Warner

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Nutritionists tell you to eat more fish. Environmentalists tell you to eat less fish. Apparently they are both right. It's the same thing with almonds, or quinoa, or a hundred …
Political Science February 8, 2021

Break It Up

Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union

Richard Kreitner

Hosted by Susan Liebell
Journalists, scholars, politicians, and citizens often assume that calls for secession are political or historical aberrations. Our founding myth is that the Civil War divided an otherwise united nation and …
Psychoanalysis February 3, 2021

Trauma and Race

A Lacanian Study of African American Racial Identity

Sheldon George

Hosted by Tracy Morgan
In his book, Trauma and Race: A Lacanian Study of African American Racial Identity (Baylor UP, 2016), Sheldon George treats an old idea--that African Americans must transform their relationship to …
History February 2, 2021

First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship

Elite Politics and the Decline of Great Powers

Richard Lachmann

Hosted by Zeb Larson
Being a great power almost seems to invite discussion of decline: whether you are declining, what can be done to prevent or arrest it, and what the consequences of …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 1, 2021

The Idea of Freedom and Race

A Discussion with Tyler Stovall

Tyler Stovall

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on …
Critical Theory January 29, 2021

A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks

Middle Class Kingdoms

Sabrina Mittermeier

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How should we understand the theme park in our globalised world? In A Cultural History of the Disneyland Theme Parks: Middle Class Kingdoms (Intellect, 2020), Dr. Sabrina Mittermeier, a postdoctoral researcher and …