New Books in American Studies

Interviews with Scholars of America about their New Books

Society & Culture
History
4326
Justin Nystrom, "Creole Italian: Sicilian Immig...
Nystrom argues that the discourse about New Orleans has been narrowed to a single story and controlled by something vaguely defined as “Creole” which has “long robbed the city of the potential for a richer cultural self-image.”
56 min
4327
Rebecca E. Zietlow, "The Forgotten Emancipator:...
Though the story of emancipation is well known in American history, the roles of many of the key figures involved in it are often overlooked. Among them is James Mitchell Ashley...
50 min
4328
Mort Zachter, "Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy...
From humble beginnings as the son of immigrant parents growing up in Brooklyn, Holzman paved a path of excellence at every level...
38 min
4329
Kathy Peiss, "The Information Hunters" (Oxford ...
While armies have seized enemy records and rare texts as booty throughout history, it was only during World War II that an unlikely band of librarians, archivists, and scholars traveled abroad to collect books and documents to aid the military cause...
31 min
4330
Lynn Neal, "Religion in Vogue: Christianity and...
Christian imagery, symbols, and motifs have long been used and incorporated in fashion.,,
51 min
4331
Erika Engstrom, "Feminism, Gender, and Politics...
Engstrom analyzes the various ways the series presented feminism as a positive force, such as the satirical portrayal of patriarchy...
49 min
4332
Lana Dee Povitz, ​"Stirrings: How Activist New ...
Povitz demonstrates how grassroots activism continued to thrive, even as it was transformed by unrelenting erosion of the country's already fragile social safety net...
35 min
4333
Michael Rechtenwald, "Google Archipelago: The D...
Rechtenwald argues that Big Digital technologies and their principals represent not only economic powerhouses but also new forms of governmental power...
97 min
4334
Maria Ryan, "Full Spectrum Dominance: Irregular...
Ryan offers the first sustained historical examination of the secondary fronts in the war on terror...
38 min
4335
Diana Lemberg, "Barriers Down: How American Pow...
Since the 1940s, America’s relations with the rest of the world have been guided by the idea of promoting the free flow of information...
46 min
4336
Ellen Griffith Spears, "Baptized in PCBs: Race,...
Griffen Spears discusses the decades long struggle for environmental and civil rights justice in Anniston, Alabama...
29 min
4337
Graham R. G. Hodges, "Black New Jersey 1664 to ...
Hodges emphasizes the history of slavery, religion, the rise of the Black middle class, and the quest for social equality through the Jim Crow era...
39 min
4338
Emily E. LB. Twarog, "Politics of the Pantry: H...
Twarog examines how working- and middle-class American housewives used their identity as housewives to protest the high cost of food. In doing so, housewives' relationships with the state evolved over the course of the century...
37 min
4339
Kimberly Dark, "Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old...
Dark's essays take on self-improvement, self-acceptance, sexual attraction, language, aging, queer visibility, fashion, family, femininity, feminism, yoga culture, airplane seats, and the vilifying of fatness in the name of good health, among other compelling topics...
55 min
4340
Phillipa Chong, “Inside the Critics’ Circle: Bo...
How does the world of book reviews work?
39 min
4341
Great Books: Deborah Plant on Hurston's "Their ...
"It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding.”
71 min
4342
Phil Christman, "Midwest Futures" (Belt Publish...
What does the future hold for the Midwest?
61 min
4343
Orly Clergé, "The New Noir: Race, Identity and ...
How has the expansion of the Black American middle class and the increase in the number of Black immigrants among them since the Civil Rights period transformed the cultural landscape of New York City?
35 min
4344
Daniel Skinner, "Medical Necessity: Health Care...
Skinner constructs a comprehensive understanding of the politics of defining medical necessity...
29 min
4345
Amy Shira Teitel, "Breaking the Chains of Gravi...
Amy Shira Teitel talks about Apollo and the community of people who are deeply attached to space history.
27 min
4346
L. Benjamin Rolsky, "The Rise and Fall of the R...
Rolsky makes the case for understanding Norman Lear as a key protagonist in the culture wars of the late 20th century...
59 min
4347
Bryant Simon, "The Hamlet Fire: A Story of Chea...
Simon discusses the tragic consequences of the ethos of "cheap" for workers, communities, and the nation...
33 min
4348
Steve Suitts, "Overturning Brown: The Segregati...
Suitts examines the parallels between de facto segregationist practices and the modern school choice movement...
28 min
4349
Ryan Weber, "Cosmopolitanism and Transatlantic ...
Musicologists have long tried to understand how cosmopolitanism and nationalism affected classical music...
57 min
4350
Randal Schnoor, "Jewish Family: Identity and Se...
Pomson and Schnoor examine the impact of the family on Jewish identity.
57 min