New Books in World Affairs

Interviews with Scholars of Global Affairs about their New Books

Society & Culture
History
1626
Brooke Schedneck, “Thailand’s International Med...
In her recent monograph, Thailand’s International Meditation Centers: Tourism and the Global Commodification of Religious Practices (Routledge, 2015), Brooke Schedneck examines Buddhist meditation centers in Thailand and draws our attention to the way ...
62 min
1627
Lincoln A. Mitchell, “The Democracy Promotion P...
In book his new book The Democracy Promotion Paradox (Brookings Institution Press, 2015), Lincoln A. Mitchell (Political Correspondent for the New York Observer) raises difficult but critically important issues by probing the numerous inconsistencies a...
62 min
1628
Ayesha Ramachandran, “Worldmakers: Global Imagi...
At what point does the world end? More importantly, how did this idea of a whole, unified world emerge to begin with? In Worldmakers: Global Imagining in Early Modern Europe (University of Chicago Press, 2015) Ayesha Ramachandran illustrates the antici...
54 min
1629
Asma Afsaruddin, “Contemporary Issues in Islam”...
As the title of the monograph suggests, Contemporary Issues in Islam (Edinburgh University Press, 2015) by Asma Afsaruddin, guides the reader through an organized and compelling narrative of reflections on hot-button topics in the modern world.
61 min
1630
Linsey McGoey, “No Such Thing as a Free Gift: T...
In No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy (Verso Books, 2015), Linsey McGoey proposes a new way of discussing philanthropy and, in doing so, revives associated historical debates often overlooked at present: fr...
55 min
1631
John Bew, “Realpolitik: A History” (Oxford UP, ...
Since its coinage in mid-19th century Germany, Realpolitik has proven both elusive and protean. To some, it represents the best approach to meaningful change and political stability in a world buffeted by uncertainty and rapid transformation.
59 min
1632
Michael Goebel, “Anti-Imperial Metropolis: Inte...
Michael Goebel‘s Anti-Imperial Metropolis: Interwar Paris and the Seeds of Third World Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2015) thinks globally while focusing on the local, everyday histories of non-Europeans in Paris in the 1920s and 30s.
55 min
1633
Thomas G. Weiss, “Humanitarian Intervention: Id...
How are humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect changing in the current international political scene? In Humanitarian Intervention: Ideas in Action (3rd ed., Polity Press, 2016), Thomas G. Weiss (The Graduate Center,
54 min
1634
Marlene Daut, “Tropics of Haiti: Race and the L...
Marlene Daut tackles the complicated intersection of history and literary legacy in her book Tropics of Haiti: Race and the Literary History of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World, 1789-1865 (Liverpool University Press, 2015).
49 min
1635
Katerina Bodovski, “Across Three Continents: Re...
Dr. Katerina Bodovski, Associate Professor of Education, Department of Education Policy Studies, College of Education, Penn State University, joins New Books in Education to discuss her new and very personal book,
33 min
1636
Timothy Nunan, “Humanitarian Invasion: Global D...
The plight of Afghanistan remains as relevant a question as ever in 2016. Just what did the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the international occupation of this country accomplish? Will an Afghan government ever exercise effective control over its ter...
78 min
1637
Roshanak Kheshti, “Modernity’s Ear: Listening t...
The origins of world music can be found in early ethnographic recordings as anthropologists and ethnomusicologists sought to record the songs of lost or dying cultures. In Modernity’s Ear: Listening to Race and Gender in World Music (NYU Press, 2015),
57 min
1638
Jeff Koehler, “Darjeeling” (Bloomsbury, 2015)
Darjeeling tea, like other members of its artisanal tribe serrano peppers, Champagne, and grana padano,exists through a combination of intimate understanding of natural forces, intensive labor, and lifelong dedication.
81 min
1639
Peter Linebaugh, “The Incomplete, True, Authent...
The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day (PM Press, 2007) is a new collection of essays from Peter Linebaugh about the history of May Day. The essays were written for a range of occasions celebrating or otherwise relating to May...
51 min
1640
John D. Wilsey, “American Exceptionalism and Ci...
John D. Wilsey, assistant professor of history and Christian apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His book American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea (IVP Academic,
59 min
1641
Jonathan Donner, “After Access: Inclusion, Deve...
Thanks to mobile phones, getting online is easier and cheaper than ever. In After Access: Inclusion, Development, and a More Mobile Internet (MIT Press, 2015), Jonathan Donner challenges the optimistic narrative that mobile phone will finally close the...
63 min
1642
Leif Wenar, “Blood Oil: Tyranny, Violence, and ...
Chances are that at this very moment, you are either looking at a computer screen, holding a digital device, or listening to my voice through plastic earphones. Our computers and these other devices are constructed out of materials that have their orig...
62 min
1643
Naomi Klein, “This Changes Everything: Capitali...
The Canadian author and journalist Naomi Klein says right-wing conservatives who deny the reality of global warming are correct about the revolutionary implications of climate change. In her new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs.
2 min
1644
Jeroen Duindam, “Dynasties: A Global History of...
For most of recorded history, single rulers such a kings, queens, chiefs, and emperors exercised authority over human populations. Jeroen Duindam (Professor of Early Modern History, Leiden University) examines an important part of this story in his new...
91 min
1645
Caroline Shaw, “Britannia’s Embrace: Modern Hum...
Published in October 2015, Caroline Shaw‘s timely new book, Britannia’s Embrace: Modern Humanitarianism and the Imperial Origins of Refugee Relief (Oxford University Press, 2015), traces the intertwined development of the category of refugee and of the...
80 min
1646
Renata Keller, “Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the Un...
When former Mexican president Lazaro Cardenas traveled to Havana in 1959 to celebrate the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Fidel Castro in front of a crowd of thousands, providing the early sketches of an image of unq...
54 min
1647
William C. Smith, ed., “The Global Testing Cult...
William C. Smith (ed.), senior associate with RESULTS Educational Fund, joins New Books in Education to discuss The Global Testing Culture: Shaping Education Policy, Perceptions, and Practice (Symposium Books, 2016).
24 min
1648
John Casey, “The Nonprofit World: Civil Society...
The nonprofit sector is growing, not just in the United States, but globally. In The Nonprofit World: Civil Society and the Rise of the Nonprofit Sector (Kumarian Press, 2015), John Casey demonstrates the extent to which nonprofits,
17 min
1649
Francesca Bray et al.,eds., “Rice: Global Netwo...
The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of A...
69 min
1650
Saba Mahmood, “Religious Difference in a Secula...
It is commonly thought that violence, injustice, and discrimination against religious minorities, especially in the Middle East, are a product of religious fundamentalism and myopia. Concomitantly, it is often argued,
83 min