Shows / New Books in American Studies
New Books in American Studies
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in American Studies
Lydia Wilkes et al., "Rhetoric and Guns" (Utah State UP, 2022)
Guns hold a complex place in American culture. Over 30,000 Americans die each year from gun violence, and guns are intimately connected to issues of public…
- New Books in American Studies
Mary Sarah Bilder, "Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution" (U Virginia Press, 2022)
In Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (U Virginia Press, 2022), Mary Sarah Bilder looks to the 1780s—the Age of…
New Books in American StudiesOn Early American Yoga
Philip Deslippe is a historian of American religion with a background in American Studies and literature. His research focuses on Asian, metaphysical, and…
- New Books in American Studies
Brandi Clay Brimmer, "Claiming Union Widowhood: Race, Respectability, and Poverty in the Post-Emancipation South" (Duke UP, 2020)
In Claiming Union Widowhood: Race, Respectability, and Poverty in the Post-Emancipation South (Duke UP, 2020), Brandi Clay Brimmer analyzes the US pension…
- New Books in American Studies
David P. Oakley, "Subordinating Intelligence: The DoD/CIA Post-Cold War Relationship" (UP of Kentucky Press, 2019)
In the late eighties and early nineties, driven by the post–Cold War environment and lessons learned during military operations, United States policy makers…
- New Books in American Studies
Louis M. Maraj, "Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics" (Utah State UP, 2020)
Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics (Utah State University Press, 2020) explores notions of Blackness in white institutional—particularly…
- New Books in American Studies
Nadia Y. Kim, "Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA" (Stanford UP, 2021)
The air in Los Angeles can be lethal, and nobody knows this better than the city’s Latinx and Asian immigrants, argues Dr. Nadia Kim in Refusing Death…
- New Books in American Studies
Steven K. Green, "Separating Church and State: A History" (Cornell UP, 2022)
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson distilled a leading idea in the early American republic and wrote of a wall of separation between church and state. That…
- New Books in American Studies
Wanda M. Corn, "Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern" (Prestel Publishing, 2017)
Wanda M. Corn's book Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern (Prestel Publishing, 2017) explores how Georgia O’Keeffe lived her life steeped in modernism, bringing the…
- New Books in American Studies
Andie Tucher, "Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History" (Columbia UP, 2022)
Long before the current preoccupation with “fake news,” American newspapers routinely ran stories that were not quite, strictly speaking, true. Today, a firm…
- New Books in American Studies
Elizabeth Alexander, "The Trayvon Generation" (Grand Central, 2022)
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander’s gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker…
- New Books in American Studies
Megan Kate Nelson, "Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America" (Scribner, 2022)
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden…
- New Books in American Studies
Paul Lerner et al., "Jewish Consumer Cultures in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Europe and North America" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
Jewish Consumer Cultures in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Europe and North America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) investigates the place and meaning of…
- New Books in American Studies
Sarah Deutsch, "Making a Modern U.S. West: The Contested Terrain of a Region and Its Borders, 1898-1940" (U Nebraska Press, 2022)
To many Americans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the West was simultaneously the greatest symbol of American opportunity, the greatest story of its…
- New Books in American Studies
Danya Glabau, "Food Allergy Advocacy: Parenting and the Politics of Care" (U Minnesota Press, 2022)
A detailed exploration of parents' fight for a safe environment for their kids, interrogating how race, class, and gender shape health advocacy The success of…
- New Books in American Studies
Edward Anthony Avery-Natale, "Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia" (Lexington, 2016)
Edward Anthony Avery-Natale's book Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia (Lexington, 2016) explores the ways in…
- New Books in American Studies
Mark Anthony Neal, "Black Ephemera: The Crisis and Challenge of the Musical Archive" (NYU Press, 2022)
We are living in an era of unprecedented access to popular culture: contemporary digital infrastructure provides anyone with an internet connection access to a…
- New Books in American Studies
Melissa Vosen Callens, "Ode to Gen X: Institutional Cynicism in 'Stranger Things' and 1980s Film" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
In Ode to Gen X: Institutional Cynicism in "Stranger Things" and 1980s Film (University Press of Mississippi, 2021), Melissa Vosen Callens explores the…
New Books in American StudiesOn Religion and Photography in 19th-Century America
Dr. Rachel Lindsey is Assistant Professor in Saint Louis University’s Department of Theological Studies. She has a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Religion from…
- New Books in American Studies
Risa Brooks et al., "Reconsidering American Civil-Military Relations: The Military, Society, Politics, and Modern War" (Oxford UP, 2020)
Most existing literature regarding civil-military relations in the United States references either the Cold War or post-Cold War era, leaving a significant gap…
- New Books in American Studies
Treva B. Lindsey, "America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice" (U California Press, 2022)
Echoing the energy of Nina Simone's searing protest song that inspired the title, this book is a call to action in our collective journey toward just futures…
- New Books in American Studies
Bryan D. Palmer, "James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928" (U Illinois Press, 2010)
The history of revolutionary politics is rich enough that it includes the full spectrum of inspiration and tragedy. Those with revolutionary aspirations have a…
- New Books in American Studies
Peter C. Zimmerman, "The Jazz Masters: Setting the Record Straight" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
The Jazz Masters: Setting the Record Straight (UP of Mississippi, 2021) is a celebration of jazz and the men and women who created and transformed it. In the…
- New Books in American Studies
Stephen Deusner, "Where the Devil Don't Stay: Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers" (U Texas Press, 2021)
Stephen Deusner's Where the Devil Don't Stay: Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers (U Texas Press, 2021) is the book-length study Drive-By Truckers…
- New Books in American Studies
A Newly Discovered Essay by Fredrick Douglas: "Slavery" (1894-1895)
Today’s guest is Leslie Leonard, who received their doctorate in American Studies and 19th C. American Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst…
- New Books in American Studies
Andrea C. Mosterman, "Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York" (Cornell UP, 2021)
In Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York (Cornell UP, 2021), Andrea C. Mosterman addresses the persistent myth that the…
- New Books in American Studies
Dustin Tahmahkera, "Cinematic Comanches: The Lone Ranger in the Media Borderlands" (U Nebraska Press, 2022)
For centuries Comanches have captivated imaginations. Yet their story in popular accounts abruptly stops in 1875, when the last free Comanches entered a…
- New Books in American Studies
Robin Goldstein and Daniel Sumner, "Can Legal Weed Win?: The Blunt Realities of Cannabis Economics" (U California Press, 2022)
Cannabis "legalization" hasn't lived up to the hype. Across North America, investors are reeling, tax collections are below projections, and people are…
- New Books in American Studies
Andy Hines, "Outside Literary Studies: Black Criticism and the University" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
This striking contribution to Black literary studies examines the practices of Black writers in the mid-twentieth century to revise our understanding of the…
- New Books in American Studies
Erich Schwartzel, "Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy" (Penguin, 2022)
From trade to technology to military might, competition between the United States and China dominates the foreign policy landscape. But this battle for global…
- New Books in American Studies
Melissa Ford, "A Brick and a Bible: Black Women's Radical Activism in the Midwest During the Great Depression" (Southern Illinois UP, 2022)
In this first study of Black radicalism in midwestern cities before the civil rights movement, Melissa Ford connects the activism of Black women who championed…
New Books in American StudiesOn the Business of Religion in an Iconic Department Store
Dr. Nicole Kirk is a historian of American religious history, associate professor, and the Frank and Alice Schulman Chair of Unitarian Universalist History at…
- New Books in American Studies
Pavla Simková, "Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands" (U Massachusetts Press, 2021)
The Boston Harbor Islands have been called Boston's "hidden shores." While some are ragged rocks teeming with coastal wildlife, such as oystercatchers and…
- New Books in American Studies
Andrew Bickford, "Chemical Heroes: Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the US Military" (Duke UP, 2021)
In Chemical Heroes: Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the US Military (Duke UP, 2021), Andrew Bickford analyzes the US military's attempts to design performance…
- New Books in American Studies
Caleb Elfenbein, "Fear in Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Teaches Us About America" (NYU Press, 2021)
In his sparkling and politically urgent new book Fear in Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Teaches Us About America (NYU Press, 2021), Caleb Elfenbein shows with…
- New Books in American Studies
Matthew Mark Silver, "Zionism and the Melting Pot: Preachers, Pioneers, and Modern Jewish Politics" (U Alabama Press, 2020)
Zionism and the Melting Pot: Preachers, Pioneers, and Modern Jewish Politics (U Alabama Press, 2020) moves away from commonplace accounts of the origins of…
- New Books in American Studies
Mickle Maher, "Six Plays" (Agate Press, 2022)
6 Plays (Agate Press, 2022) collects six plays written over a twenty year period by playwright Mickle Maher. Maher is a legend of the Chicago theatre. He is a…
- New Books in American Studies
Robert Chao Romero, "Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity" (InterVarsity Press, 2020)
For five hundred years, Latina/o culture and identity have been shaped by their challenges to the religious, socio-economic, and political status quo, whether…
- New Books in American Studies
Erin Murphy, "Burmese Haze: US Policy and Myanmar's Opening--And Closing" (Association for Asian Studies, 2022)
Myanmar—or Burma, if that’s the name you prefer—is one of a small set of countries: nations that, despite natural bounty and a vibrant population, remain…
- New Books in American Studies
Garrett M. Graff, "Watergate: A New History" (Simon and Schuster, 2022)
Award-winning journalist and editor Garrett Graff has produced a fascinating, propulsive, and captivating narrative about the Watergate scandal that rocked the…
- New Books in American Studies
Irvin J. Hunt, "Dreaming the Present: Time, Aesthetics, and the Black Cooperative Movement" (UNC Press, 2022)
In their darkest hours over the course of the twentieth century, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ella Baker, George Schuyler, and Fannie Lou Hamer gathered hundreds across…
- New Books in American Studies
James S. Bielo, "Materializing the Bible: Scripture, Sensation, Place" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
What happens when the written words of biblical scripture are transformed into experiential, choreographed environments? To answer this question…
- New Books in American Studies
Mark A. Raider and Gary Phillip Zola, "New Perspectives in American Jewish History: A Documentary Tribute to Jonathan D. Sarna" (Brandeis UP, 2021)
New Perspectives in American Jewish History: A Documentary Tribute to Jonathan D. Sarna (Brandeis UP, 2021) is a collection of annotated primary sources in the…
- New Books in American Studies
Sarah Mittlefehldt, "Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics" (U Washington Press, 2013)
The Appalachian Trail, a thin ribbon of wilderness running through the densely populated eastern United States, offers a refuge from modern society and a place…
- New Books in American Studies
Colleen Wessel-McCoy, "Freedom Church of the Poor: Martin Luther King Jr's Poor People's Campaign" (Fortress Academic, 2021)
When The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. looked over into the promised land and tried to discern how we would get there, he called the poor to lead the…
- New Books in American Studies
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, "When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today" (Harper, 2021)
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived…
- New Books in American Studies
Mario Daniels and John Krige, "Knowledge Regulation and National Security in Postwar America" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
Knowledge Regulation and National Security in Postwar America (University of Chicago Press, 2022) is the first historical study of export control regulations…
- New Books in American Studies
Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan, "Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success" (PublicAffairs, 2022)
In Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success (PublicAffairs, 2022), Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan reveal the true story of immigration and…
- New Books in American Studies
Richard Stamz and Patrick A. Roberts, "Give 'em Soul, Richard!: Race, Radio, and Rhythm and Blues in Chicago" (U Illinois Press, 2010)
Give 'em Soul, Richard!: Race, Radio, and Rhythm and Blues in Chicago (U Illinois Press, 2010) is the remarkable story of a remarkable man. Richard Stamz…
- New Books in American Studies
Alejandro de la Fuente and Ariela J. Gross, "Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
How did Africans become 'blacks' in the Americas? Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana (Cambridge UP, 2020)…
- New Books in American Studies
Charlie Eaton, "Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
Elite colleges have long played a crucial role in maintaining social and class status in America while public universities have offered a major stepping-stone…
- New Books in American Studies
David Swift, "The Identity Myth: Why We Need to Embrace Our Differences to Beat Inequality" (Constable & Robinson, 2022)
In conversations about polarised political issues, phrases like ‘it’s not about race, it’s about class’ have become the perfect way to induce a stalemate. It…
- New Books in American Studies
Tracey Deutsch, "Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century" (UNC Press, 2010)
The title of the book that we are introducing today is Building a Housewife's Paradise Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century…
- New Books in American Studies
Adam M. Romero, "Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture" (U California Press, 2021)
The toxicity of pesticides to the environment and humans is often framed as an unfortunate effect of their benefits to agricultural production. In Economic…
- New Books in American Studies
Chris Wade, "The Films of James Woods" (Wisdom Twins Books, 2022)
James Woods is one of the most versatile and captivating actors in American film history. From his breakthrough performance as Greg Powell in The Onion Field…
- New Books in American Studies
Daniel J. Burge, "A Failed Vision of Empire: The Collapse of Manifest Destiny, 1845-1872" (U Nebraska Press, 2022)
Ask you average high school student or undergraduate about nineteenth century US history and if nothing else, they likely know the phrase "manifest destiny."…
- New Books in American Studies
Ilana M. Horwitz, "God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion's Surprising Impact on Academic Success" (Oxford UP, 2022)
In God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion's Surprising Impact on Academic Success (Oxford University Press, 2022), Ilana M. Horwitz offers a revealing and at…
- New Books in American Studies
Steven G. Epstein, "The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
Since the 1970s, health professionals, researchers, governments, advocacy groups, and commercial interests have invested in the pursuit of something called…
- New Books in American Studies
Carlos Acevedo, "The Duke: The Life and Lies of Tommy Morrison" (Hamilcar, 2022)
In the early 1990s, Tommy Morrison, a young roughneck from Jay, Oklahoma, burst onto the boxing scene to become one of the most controversial fighters of his…
- New Books in American Studies
Andrew Hunt, "We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes: Late Cold War Culture in the Age of Reagan" (U Massachusetts Press, 2022)
Ronald Reagan’s hagiography has created an entire mythology around the 40th president of the US; anticommunism and the fight against the ‘Evil Empire’ are the…