Shows / The Academic Life
The Academic Life
A podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! Created and produced by Dr. Christina Gessler, the Academic Life podcast is inspired by today’s knowledge-producers around the world, working inside and outside the academy. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life
Episodes
- The Academic Life
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s…
- The Academic Life
No! The Art and Activism of Complaining
To be heard as complaining is not to be heard, writes Sara Ahmed. In No! The Art and Activism of Complaining, her sweeping exploration of complaint as a means…
- The Academic Life
Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day
Feeling worn out by the work of resistance? How do you persevere? Today’s book is: Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day, by…
- The Academic Life
The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915
When American fascists suddenly goose-stepped down Main Street in the 1930s, fascism was seen by the rest of the country as a terrifying and radical new…
- The Academic Life
How Girls Achieve
How Girls Achieve points out a simple and overlooked truth: most schools never had girls in mind to begin with. That is why the world needs what Dr. Sally…
- The Academic Life
Tsunami: Women’s Voices From Mexico
Featuring personal essay, manifesto, creative nonfiction, and poetry, Tsunami: Women’s Voices From Mexico (Feminist Press, 2025) gathers the multiplicity of…
- The Academic Life
The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors
Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book…
- The Academic Life
A Nation Wrestles With God: American Prophets, Philosophers, and Firebrands
Spanning more than 400 years of spiritual transformation and imagination, A Nation Wrestles With God (Restless Books, 2026) collects diverse writers—poets…
- The Academic Life
The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars
The Grant Writing Guide: A Road Map for Scholars (Princeton UP, 2023) is an essential handbook for writing fundable grants. This easy-to-use guide features…
- The Academic Life
Thinking About Leaving Academia?
You’ve spent so many years earning your degrees. But how do you know if staying in academia is the right thing for you? Whether you hope to keep working on…
- The Academic Life
Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser
As a big sister, Girl Scout, personal assistant, sitcom sidekick, and, finally, mother of three, Amy believed it was her destiny to be a people pleaser. She…
- The Academic Life
Bordering On Indifference: Immigration Agents Negotiating Race and Morality
Immigration agents have a frontline view of the racial, economic, and legal inequalities that undocumented migration reflects—and yet most agents do not think…
- The Academic Life
In The Scholar’s Workshop: Hidden Histories of Collaboration and Authorship
For centuries, many of the world’s most influential thinkers relied on helpers who performed tasks such as taking dictation, correcting, indexing, composing…
- The Academic Life
The Letters of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a letter writer before she was a poet. And it was through letters that she shared prose reflections–alternately humorous, provocative…
- The Academic Life
Cast Out: A Call For A Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration
In Cast Out: A Call For A Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration (Beacon Press, 2026), civil rights lawyer Joseph Margulies insists that those who…
- The Academic Life
Heart-Centered Connections: Seven Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive
Heart-Centered Connections: Seven Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive is a transformative guide for working with a child…
- The Academic Life
Doubled Up: Shared Households and the Precarious Lives of Families
More than eleven million children in the US live in doubled-up households, sharing space with extended family or friends. These households are even more common…
- The Academic Life
Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory
In Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (UNC Press, 2026), historian John Garrison Marks tells the story…
- The Academic Life
The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest
Research shows that honesty is the single most important characteristic a person can possess when it comes to liking them, respecting them, and understanding…
- The Academic Life
Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity
A woman miscarries and is charged with murder. A new mother tests positive for a drug her hospital administers and loses custody of her newborn. Four women are…
- The Academic Life
Can I Say That: Your Go-To Guide for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Can I Say That: Your Go-To Guide for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is your safe space to learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion, and how you can be…
- The Academic Life
Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902
In Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902 (U South Carolina Press, 2026), Dr. Mollie Barnes studies…
- The Academic Life
The Instigators
Black women have always been the most relentless instigators for change—building a democracy for all. In The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential…
- The Academic Life
End of An Academic Dream
Why do we build our sense of self around our academic work? What does it mean to pivot away from campus jobs to the alt-ac world? How does increasing academic…
- The Academic Life
Reflection-In-Motion
Reflection-in-Motion: Reimagining Reflection in the Writing Classroom (Utah State UP, 2025) considers how reflective practice is embedded in daily course…
- The Academic Life
Fighting for a Foothold: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia
Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a suburban jurisdiction in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and is home to the highest concentration of Black…
- The Academic Life
Empathy Takes Action: An Autistic Therapist on the Radical Work of Connection
Mainstream psychology has long accepted that some people (like those with autism) are naturally more logical and unemotional, while others (like so-called…
- The Academic Life
Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King
Caroline Bicks became the first scholar granted extended access by Stephen King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the…
- The Academic Life
The Case for Career Services
What exactly is career services? If you don’t know, you aren’t alone. Most of us operate from a limited or outdated idea of what career services offers, why…
- The Academic Life
The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence
Each year, police officers kill over 1,000 people they’ve sworn to protect and serve. While some cases, like George Floyd’s and Sandra Bland’s, capture…
- The Academic Life
The Club: Where American Artists Found Refuge in Belle Epoque Paris
In Belle Époque Paris, the Eiffel Tower was newly built, France was experiencing remarkable political stability, and American women were painting the town and…
- The Academic Life
The Criminal Record Complex: Risk, Race, and the Struggle for Work in America
Most employers in the United States routinely conduct criminal background checks on job applicants, weeding out those with criminal convictions—and thus…
- The Academic Life
The Collective Cure: Upstream Solutions for Better Public Health
A powerful blend of deeply human stories and rigorous research, The Collective Cure: Upstream Solutions for Better Public Health (Beacon Press, 2026)…
- The Academic Life
What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life
Mothers and fathers use their time differently, with women spending roughly twice as many hours on family labor as men. But what about the gendered differences…
- The Academic Life
Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent Change in Congress
Fifty years of changemaking and reform haven't fixed Congress—what does that reveal about American democracy? In Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent…
- The Academic Life
The Vet at the End of the Earth: Adventures with Animals in the South Atlantic
The role of a resident vet in the remote islands of the Falklands, St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha encompasses many wonderful complexities: caring…
- The Academic Life
A Light in the Tower: A New Reckoning with Mental Health in Higher Education
A Light in the Tower argues that excellent education and radical support for mental health struggles can coexist, and provides detailed advice for how to do…
- The Academic Life
The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy
In an age of growing wealth disparities, politicians on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm about the fading American Dream. Yet despite all…
- The Academic Life
The Power of the State: Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, and Minneapolis
When young people began disappearing in Argentina, their mothers searched for answers. Despite laws prohibiting protests and political gatherings, the women…
- The Academic Life
Educated Out: How Rural Students Navigate Elite Colleges—And What It Costs Them
Rural students are unlikely to pursue degrees from private, selective schools. Why? And what happens to the handful of rural students who do attend elite…
- The Academic Life
Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine
Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In…
- The Academic Life
Abortion and Reproductive Justice: An Essential Guide for Resistance
Overturning Roe unleashed a wave of urgent threats to abortion and bodily autonomy, fueled by overt white supremacy, racial and anti-immigrant hatred, and…
- The Academic Life
Everything Is Fine, I'll Just Work Harder: Confessions of a Former Badass
In Everything Is Fine, I’ll Just Work Harder: Confessions of A Former Badass (Street Noise Books, 2025), Professor Cara Gormally draws us into the familiar…
- The Academic Life
How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend
Your brain is the most remarkable thing in the known universe. Always trying to mend itself, and always trying to protect you, it’s in a constant state of flux…
- The Academic Life
How to Organize Inclusive Events and Conferences
How to Organize Inclusive Events and Conferences is the ultimate guide to creating welcoming, safe, and accessible gatherings for everyone. With detailed…
- The Academic Life
Sustainability, Identity, Artisans and Designers
Long before the fashion industry formally addressed questions of sustainability and advocated for “slow fashion,” a husband-and-wife design duo were working to…
- The Academic Life
Try to Love the Questions: From Debate to Dialogue in Classrooms and Life
Among the most common challenges on college campuses today is figuring out how to navigate our politically charged culture and engage productively with…
- The Academic Life
Living Night: On the Secret Wonders of Wildlife After Dark
When the sun sets, things start to get interesting among wild animals. Wherever we live, whether in the city or suburbs or country, darkness conjures a hidden…
- The Academic Life
Black Girls and How We Fail Them
From hip-hop moguls and political candidates to talk radio and critically acclaimed films, society communicates that Black girls don’t matter and their…
- The Academic Life
The Library of Lost Maps: An Archive of a World in Progress
At the heart of University College London lies a long-forgotten map library packed with thousands of maps and atlases. Professor James Cheshire stumbled upon…
- The Academic Life
Conversations with Birds
Growing up at the feet of the Himalayas in northern India, Kumar took for granted her immersion in a lush natural world. After moving to North America as a…
- The Academic Life
Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change
In Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change, scholars and practitioners who have worked together in various capacities across…
- The Academic Life
Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth
Humanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are…
- The Academic Life
House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs Jr.
At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980…
- The Academic Life
Eram Alam, "The Care of Foreigners: How Immigrant Physicians Changed US Healthcare" (JHU Press, 2025)
For more than 60 years, the United States has trained fewer physicians than it needs, relying instead on the economically expedient option of soliciting…
- The Academic Life
What Do You Want Out of Life? A Philosophical Guide to Figuring Out What Matters
What do you want out of life? To make a lot of money, work for justice, run marathons, sing in a choir, have children, travel the world? The things we care…
- The Academic Life
The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit
As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruit—especially apples. These…
- The Academic Life
Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers
Developmental editing holds the power to make a manuscript connect with publishers and readers, yet few scholarly writers have the training to do it well…
- The Academic Life
Leading Toward Liberation: How to Build Cultures of Thriving in Higher Education
In Leading Toward Liberation: How to Build Cultures of Thriving in Higher Education (JHU Press, 2025), Dr. Annmarie Caño reimagines academic leadership as…
- The Academic Life
Jonn Elledge, "A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps" (Experiment, 2024)
In this eye-opening investigation into the most remarkable points on the map, a single boundary might, upon closer inspection, reveal eons of history—from epic…