New Books in Biography

Interviews with Biographers about their New Books

Society & Culture
History
1276
Margaret Randall, "I Never Left Home: Poet, Fem...
Randall focuses in this memoir on recreating the communities and historical moments in which she lived. Randall especially emphasizes how her encounter with feminist thinking reshaped how she understood not only her own life, but also the Latin American revolutions she saw up from up close...
47 min
1277
David Kettler and Thomas Wheatland, "Learning F...
Kettler and Wheatland pays special attention to Neumann's efforts to break down the conventional divide between political theory and the empirical discipline of political science...
60 min
1278
Christopher Tomlins, "In the Matter of Nat Turn...
In 1831, Nat Turner led a band of Southampton County slaves in a rebellion that killed fifty-five whites, mostly women and children. After more than two months in hiding, Turner was captured, and quickly convicted and executed...
65 min
1279
Charles J. Holden, "Republican Populist: Spiro ...
The authors present Agnew as a progenitor of the conservative populism associated today with America’s 45th president...
59 min
1280
Cynthia Orozco, "Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-V...
Orozco traces the life of Adela Sloss-Vento, a twentieth-century Mexican American woman civil rights activist in Texas...
61 min
1281
Great Books: Nicholas Johnson on Samuel Beckett
“Another heavenly day” is the opening line of Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days (1961),...
65 min
1282
Tim Rooney, "John Beilein at Michigan: A Basket...
During his twelve years in Ann Arbor, Beilein became the program's all-time winningest coach, reached two national championship games, won four Big Ten championships and produced eight NBA first-round draft picks...
44 min
1283
Tom Chaffin, "Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Je...
Of the many thousands who participated in the American and French revolutions in the late 18th century, only a handful played roles in both events...
39 min
1284
Great Books: Denis Hollier on Lévi-Strauss' "Tr...
Ostensibly a travelogue and ethnographic account of a European's fieldwork among indigenous people in mid-20th century Brazil, it is a work of impassioned curiosity...
53 min
1285
Jeff Forret, "William’s Gang: A Notorious Slave...
Forret explores the career of prominent slave trader William H. Williams, whose operation was based in Washington DC...
47 min
1286
Kimberly A. Hamlin, "Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrag...
Hamlin offers a fascinating biography of a little-known suffrage leader...
55 min
1287
Jin Y. Park, "Women and Buddhist Philosophy: En...
Park offers an account of the Korean Buddhist nun, Kim Iryŏp’s life and philosophy, which takes place from 1896-1971...
58 min
1288
Matt Cook, "Sleight of Mind: 75 Ingenious Parad...
According to Cook, a paradox paradox is a sophisticated kind of magic trick...
51 min
1289
Jay Weiner, "Professor Berman: The Last Lecture...
In his latest book, journalist Jay Weiner details the extraordinary life of Professor Hy Berman...
49 min
1290
Nancy Sinkoff, "From Left to Right: Lucy S. Daw...
Sinkoff offers s the first comprehensive biography of Dawidowicz (1915-1990), a pioneer historian in the field that is now called "Holocaust Studies"..
56 min
1291
Alan Taylor, "Thomas Jefferson’s Education" (W....
Taylor tells the story of how Jefferson’s vision for educating the next generations of American came to be...
32 min
1292
Elizabeth Goldring, "Nicholas Hilliard: Life of...
Limning – the painting of miniature portraits – was an important art form in 16th-century Europe. Among its greatest practitioners was Nicholas Hilliard...
57 min
1293
John Hardman, "Marie-Antoinette: The Making of ...
Who was the real Marie-Antoinette?
72 min
1294
Al Posamentier, "Math Makers: The Lives and Wor...
This charming book is more than just mathematics, because mathematicians are not just makers of mathematics...
53 min
1295
Larry Wolff, "Woodrow Wilson and the Reimaginin...
Wolff traces how Wilson's emerging definition of national self-determination and his practical application of the principle changed over time as negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference unfolded...
55 min
1296
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
1297
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
1298
Sarah Abrevaya Stein, "A Sephardic Journey Thro...
Stein weaves a narrative tapestry whose threads are drawn from the archives of one Sephardic family, with roots in the city of Salonica, then in the Ottoman Empire, now Thessaloniki in Greece...
47 min
1299
Phillipa Chong, “Inside the Critics’ Circle: Bo...
How does the world of book reviews work?
39 min
1300
Sohaira Siddiqui, "Law and Politics Under the A...
Siddiqui conducts a masterful analysis of how conditions of political change and fragmentation generate intellectual debates and fermentation on the often-conflictual interaction of certainty, continuity, and community in Muslim thought and practice....
44 min