New Books in Public Policy
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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2026
Alan Jacobs, “The Pleasures of Reading in an Ag...
In his new book, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction (Oxford University Press, 2011), Alan Jacobs, Clyde S. Kilby Chair Professor of English at Wheaton College, discusses the state of reading in the United States.
37 min
2027
Mikaila Lemonik Arthur, “Student Activism and C...
Colleges and universities have a reputation for being radical places where tenured radicals teach radical ideas. Don’t believe it. Consider this: the set of academic departments that one finds in most “colleges of liberal arts and sciences”–history,
53 min
2028
Mara Hvistendahl, “Unnatural Selection: Choosin...
The students in my undergraduate class on gender, sexuality, and human rights are a pretty tough bunch. They know they’re in for some unpleasant topics: sex trafficking, domestic violence, mass rape in wartime.
52 min
2029
Ben Shapiro, “Primetime Propaganda: The True St...
In his new book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV (Broadside Books, 2011), Ben Shapiro, who is the youngest person ever to get a nationally syndicated column in the U.S.,
51 min
2030
Elaine Sciolino, “La Seduction: How the French ...
In her new book, La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life(Times Books, 2011), Elaine Sciolino, Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, explores the role of seduction in the French way of life. Sciolino argues that seduction plays an integra...
27 min
2031
Max Singer, “History of the Future: The Shape o...
In his new book, History of the Future: The Shape of the World to Come Is Visible Today (Lexington Books, 2011), Max Singer, Senior Fellow and co-founder of the Hudson Institute, argues that the human race is undergoing an enormous transition,
39 min
2032
Tamara Metz, “Untying the Knot: Marriage, the S...
Marriage is at the center of some of our fiercest political debates. Here are some recent developments regarding marriage in the United States. Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced that it would no longer defend the federal Defense of Ma...
63 min
2033
Kimbrew McLeod and Peter DiCola, “Creative Lice...
One hallmark of important art, in any medium, is a thoughtful relation with artistic precursors. Every artist reckons with heroes and rivals, influences and nemeses, and the old work becomes a part of the new.
69 min
2034
Dov Zakheim, "A Vulcan's Tale: How the Bush Adm...
An interview with Dov Zakheim
44 min
2035
Scott Cleland with Ira Brodsky, “Search and Des...
In their new book Search and Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google (Telescope Books, 2011), Scott Cleland, President of Precursor LLC, and Ira Brodsky, founder of Datacomm Research, aim to expose the unethical internet behemoth they believe to be hiding ...
46 min
2036
Eric C. Schneider, “Smack: Heroin and the Ameri...
When I arrived at college in the early 1980s, drugs were cool, music was cool, and drug-music was especially cool. The coolest of the cool drug-music bands was The Velvet Underground. They were from the mean streets of New York City (The Doors were fro...
73 min
2037
William Damon, “Failing Liberty 101: How We Are...
In his new book, Failing Liberty 101: How We Are Leaving Young Americans Unprepared for Citizenship in a Free Society, (Hoover Institution Press, 2011) William Damon, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution,
45 min
2038
Michael Auslin, "Pacific Cosmopolitans: A Cultu...
An interview with Michael Auslin
52 min
2039
Walter Olson, “Schools for Misrule: Legal Acade...
What kind of education are students at top American law schools getting? And how does that education influence their activities upon graduation? In Walter Olson‘s Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America (Encounter Books, 2011),
41 min
2040
Elizabeth Pisani, “The Wisdom of Whores: Bureau...
When in medical school, I found myself drawn to the study of infectious diseases in large part because of the mixture of science and anthropology – infectious diseases are always about the way we interact with the world around us,
58 min
2041
Paul Offit, “Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vacci...
If a parent decides not to vaccinate their children, is that an individual choice, or is it a serious threat to the public health? In Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All (Basic Books, 2011), Dr.
36 min
2042
Brandon L. Garrett, “Convicting the Innocent: W...
Wrongful conviction is, both morally and practically, the worst mistake that society can inflict on an individual. From Franz Kafka to Errol Morris, from Arthur Koestler to Harper Lee, Western culture is deeply shaken at the prospect of the innocent pe...
73 min
2043
Teresa Gowan, “Hobos, Hustlers and Backsliders-...
Why do people become homeless? Is it because some people have made bad decisions in their lives or can’t hold onto a stable job? Or is homelessness the result of a depilating mental illness or chemical addiction? From a different perspective,
66 min
2044
Robert Goldberg, “Tabloid Medicine: How the Int...
This week New Books in Public Policy interviews Bob Goldberg about his new book Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet Is Being Used to Hijack Medical Science for Fear and Profit (Simon & Schuster, 2010). The book is a look at the way medical science is di...
38 min
2045
Beth Bailey, “America’s Army: Making the All-Vo...
The United States Army is a product of our society and its values (for better and for worse), but it also makes claims to shape our society – and of course to defend it. What is the relationship between military service and citizenship?
65 min
2046
James Fleming, “Fixing the Sky: The Checkered H...
In the summer of 2008 the Chinese were worried about rain. They were set to host the Summer Olympics that year, and they wanted clear skies. Surely clear skies, they must have thought, would show the world that China had arrived.
61 min
2047
Nick Reding, “Methland: The Death and Life of a...
In 1980 I left Kansas to go to college in Iowa. A lot of things caught my attention about Iowa, for example, that the people really are very nice. I also noticed that there were a lot of drugs. One of them was “crystal methamphetamine,
66 min
2048
Colin Gordon, “Mapping Decline: St. Louis and t...
This week we have Professor Colin Gordon of the University of Iowa on the show talking about his new book Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008).
68 min