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.
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6151
Claire Virginia Eby, “Until Choice Do Us Part: ...
Clare Virginia Eby is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut. In Until Choice Do Us Part: Marriage Reform in the Progressive Era (University of Chicago Press, 2014), Eby examines the origins of how we think of marriage through the theo...
64 min
6152
Madeline Y. Hsu, “The Good Immigrants: How the ...
With high educational and professional attainment, Asian Americans are often portrayed as the “Model Minority” in popular media. This portrayal, though, is widely panned by academics and activists who claim that it lacks nuance. Madeline Y. Hsu,
42 min
6153
Ted A. Smith, “Weird John Brown: Divine Violenc...
People living in the modern west generally have no problem criticizing religiously-justified violence. It’s therefore always interesting when I discuss John Brown, a man who legitimized anti-slavery violence Biblically.
73 min
6154
Philip A. Wallach, “To The Edge: Legality, Legi...
Philip A. Wallach is the author of To The Edge: Legality, Legitimacy, and the Responses to the 2008 Financial Crisis (Brookings Institution Press, 2015). Wallach is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.
25 min
6155
Ana Elizabeth Rosas, “Abrazando el Espiritu: Br...
The Emergency Farm Labor Program (a.k.a. Bracero Program) was initiated in 1942 as a bilateral wartime agreement between the governments of the United States and Mexico. The program’s initial objectives were two-fold, address labor shortages in U.S.
80 min
6156
Akinyele Omowale Umoja, “We Will Shoot Back: Ar...
The historiography of the southern Civil Rights Movement has long focused on the tactic of non-violence. With only a few notable exceptions, most scholarship locates the use of armed self-defense and other forms of armed resistance in northern cities w...
50 min
6157
Donald Dewey, “Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Ac...
In his new book Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Actor (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014),Don Dewey discusses Lee J. Cobb’s career, both from his importance as a character actor and follower of the Method acting school.
60 min
6158
Andrew Hartman, “The War for the Soul of Americ...
Andrew Hartman is associate professor of history at Illinois State University. His book A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars (University of Chicago Press, 2015) provides a whirlwind tour through the most salient debates of what ...
70 min
6159
Anita M. Harris, “Ithaca Diaries: Coming of Age...
Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll. That’s the stereotypical view of the 1960s. But in her memoir, Ithaca Diaries, Coming of Age in the 1960s (Cambridge Common Press, 2014), journalist and writer Anita M. Harris tells a more nuanced story about her tumultuous...
35 min
6160
Kyle Mattes and David Redlawsk, “The Positive C...
Kyle Mattes and David Redlawsk are the authors of The Positive Case for Negative Campaigning (University of Chicago Press, 2014). Mattes is assistant professor of political science at Florida International University; Redlawsk is professor of political...
17 min
6161
Sally G. McMillen, “Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic...
Sally G. McMillen is the Mary Reynolds Babcock professor of history at Davidson College. In her book Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life (Oxford University Press, 2015) McMillen has given us a rich biography of the life and times of the abolitionist and w...
64 min
6162
Geraldo L. Cadava, “Standing on Common Ground: ...
Due in large part to sensationalist representations in contemporary media and politics, the U.S.-Mexico border is popularly understood as a space of illegal activity defined by threats of foreign intrusion including: undocumented migration,
68 min
6163
Jenifer Van Vleck, “Empire of the Air: Aviation...
[Re-posted with permission from Who Makes Cents?] Today’s guest discusses the history of aviation and how this provides a lens to interpret the history of capitalism and U.S. foreign relations across the twentieth century. Amongst other topics,
35 min
6164
Dave Itzkoff, “Mad as Hell: The Making of Netwo...
Clearly prophetic, “Network” was a controversial film that was reviled by television studios and networks, yet became one of the best films of its time. Dave Itzkoff, culture reporter for The New York Times,
62 min
6165
Michael G. Miller, “Subsidizing Democracy: How ...
With a 2016 presidential election likely to cost several billions dollars, is there any way to prevent money from completely overwhelming US politics? Public financing of campaigns has offered one solution and is the focus of Michael G.
20 min
6166
Sophia Z. Lee, “The Workplace Constitution from...
Americans believe they have a number of protections on the job, which are common in other democracies (free speech and privacy, defense against capricious firing, etc.). They are wrong. And in her fascinating new book The Workplace Constitution from th...
75 min
6167
Josh Kun, “To Live and Dine in L.A.: Menus and ...
This book is a ton of fun. To Live and Dine in L.A.: Menus and the Making of the Modern City (Angel City Press) taps the deep and colorful collection of Southern California restaurant menus archived by the Los Angeles Public Library. Author Josh Kun,
50 min
6168
Nicholas R. Parrillo, “Against the Profit Motiv...
In this podcast I discuss Profit Motive: The Salary Revolution in American Government, 1780-1940 (Yale University Press, 2013) with author Nicholas R. Parrillo, professor of law at Yale University. Parrillo’s book was winner of the 2014 Law and Society...
61 min
6169
Kevin M. Schultz, “Buckley and Mailer: The Diff...
In Buckley and Mailer: The Difficult Friendship that Shaped the Sixties (W.W. Norton, 2015), Kevin M. Schultz has given us a lively and colorful narrative history that captures the character of two complex men and the times in which they lived.
67 min
6170
Richard Kreitner, “The Almanac: 150 Years of Th...
Helen Keller, Franz Kafka and Silent Cal Coolidge appear in this week’s Almanac, a blog to celebrate the 150thanniversary of The Nation, America’s oldest magazine. Nation archivist Richard Kreitner is featuring an event from every day of the year and h...
17 min
6171
Greg Barnhisel, “Cold War Modernists: Art, Lite...
Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel,
57 min
6172
Paul Seydor, “The Authentic Death and Contentio...
Sam Peckinpah’s career as a writer and director was also filled with controversies, but his reputation has not diminished, more than thirty years after his last film. Paul Seydor began in academics before becoming a highly regarded film editor who knew...
67 min
6173
Michael Gould-Wartofsky, “The Occupiers: The Ma...
Michael Gould-Wartofsky is the author of The Occupiers: The Making of the 99 Percent Movement (Oxford University Press, 2015). He is a PhD candidate in Sociology at New York University. There has been a lot written about the Occupy Wall Street movement...
17 min
6174
Miriam Pawel, “The Crusades of Cesar Chavez” (B...
Cesar Chavez founded a labor union. Launched a movement. And inspired a generation. Two Decades after his death, Chavez remains the most significant Latino figure in U.S. history.” So reads the inside flap ofMiriam Pawel’s new biography The Crusades of...
71 min
6175
Beatrix Hoffman, “Health Care for Some: Rights ...
Disputes over the definitions or legality of ‘rights’ and ‘rationing’ in their various guises have animated much of the debate around the United States Affordable Care Act. Many legislators and vocal members of their constituency have strong conviction...
54 min