New Books in Critical Theory

Interviews with Scholars of Critical Theory about their New Books

Science
Social Sciences
1826
Emily K. Hobson, “Lavender and Red: Liberation ...
In Lavender and Red: Liberation and Solidarity in the Gay and Lesbian Left (University of California Press, 2016), Emily K. Hobson challenges conceptions of LGBTQ activism as single-issue analogous to but separate from other activist initiatives.
68 min
1827
Nancy Wang Yuen, “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Ac...
How can we challenge the way film and television represents the world around us? In Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism (Rutgers University Press, 2017) Nancy Wan Yuen, and Associate Professor of Sociology at Biola University,
36 min
1828
Christopher Lowen Agee, “The Streets of San Fra...
Policing tactics have recently been the subject of lively political debates and the target of protest groups like the Black Lives Matter movement. Police reform is not new, of course. The 1950s and 1960s, in fact,
66 min
1829
Andre Carrington, “Speculative Blackness: The F...
Have you ever watched a futuristic movie and wondered if there will actually be any black people in the future? Have you ever been surprised, disappointed, or concerned with the lack of diversity demonstrated in many science fiction stories?
64 min
1830
Leilah Danielson, “American Gandhi: A.J. Muste ...
During a life that stretched from the Progressive era to the 1960s, A. J. Muste dedicated himself to fighting against war and the exploitation of working Americans. In American Gandhi: A. J. Muste and the History of Radicalism in the Twentieth Century ...
65 min
1831
Ryan Vieira, “Time and Politics: Parliament an...
How did the idea of time change during the nineteenth century? In Time and Politics: Parliament and the Culture of Modernity in Nineteenth-Century Britain and the British World (Oxford University Press, 2015) Ryan Vieira,
47 min
1832
Amy Brown, “A Good Investment? Philanthropy and...
There has been much talk in the news recently about funding for public education, the emergence of charter schools, and the potential of school vouchers. How much does competition for financing in urban public schools depend on marketing and perpetuati...
62 min
1833
Raphael Dalleo, “American Imperialisms Undead: ...
As Raphael Dalleo demonstrates in his wide-ranging and compelling American Imperialism Undead: The Occupation of Haiti and the Rise of Caribbean Anti-colonialism (University of Virginia Press, 2016), the US occupation of Haiti reverberated throughout t...
29 min
1834
Stacy Alaimo, “Exposed: Environmental Politics ...
Stacy Alaimo’s Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times (University of Minnesota Press, 2016) is a provocative reflection on environmental ethics, politics, and forms of knowledge. Through a range of examples as broad as the the...
35 min
1835
Helen Glew, “Gender, Rhetoric and Regulation: W...
What role has gender played in government institutions? In Gender, Rhetoric and Regulation: Women’s Work in the Civil Service and the London County Council 1900-1955, Helen Glew, a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Westminster uses detail...
35 min
1836
David Rosen and Aaron Santesso, “The Watchman i...
“Surveillance and literature, as kindred practices, have light to shed on each other.” When David Rosen and Aaron Santesso considered the discipline of surveillance studies in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001,
66 min
1837
Jessie Daniels, Karen Gregory, and Tressie McMi...
How do we do sociology in the digital era? In Digital Sociologies (Policy Press, 2016) Jessie Daniels, Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY, Karen Gregory a Lecturer in Digital Sociology at the University of Edinburgh,...
30 min
1838
Robyn C. Spencer, “The Revolution Has Come: Bla...
As the first substantive account of the birthplace of the Black Panther Party (BPP), Robyn C. Spencer’s The Revolution Has Come: Black Power, Gender and the Black Panther Party in Oakland (Duke University Press,
47 min
1839
Justin Parkhurst, “The Politics of Evidence: Fr...
What is the role of evidence in the policy process? In The Politics of Evidence: From Evidence-Based Policy to the Good Governance of Evidence (Routledge, 2016), Justin Parkhurst, Associate Professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Econ...
49 min
1840
Manisha Sinha, “The Slave’s Cause: A History of...
Manisha Sinha is the Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut. She was born in India and received her Ph.D from Columbia University where her dissertation was nominated for the Bancroft prize.
63 min
1841
Matt Houlbrook, “Prince of Tricksters: The Incr...
How should we understand the interwar years in Britain? In Prince of Tricksters: The Incredible True Story of Netley Lucas, Gentleman Crook (University of Chicago Press, 2016) Matt Houlbrook, Professor of Cultural History at the University of Birmingha...
40 min
1842
Bill V. Mullen, “W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary ...
Born just five years after the abolition of slavery, W. E. B. Du Bois died the night before Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington in 1963. In the many decades between, W. E. B.
50 min
1843
Paul Benneworth et al., “The Impact and Future ...
What is the future for Arts and Humanities in Europe? The podcast discusses these questions with Paul Benneworth, one of the authors, along with Magnus Gulbrandsen and Ellen Hazelkorn, of The Impact and Future of Arts and Humanities Research (Palgrave,...
42 min
1844
Banu Bargu, “Starve and Immolate: The Politics ...
What is the relationship between state power and self-destructive violence as a mode of political resistance? In her book Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons (Columbia University Press, 2016), Banu Bargu (Politics,
53 min
1845
Sarah Jaffe, “Necessary Trouble: Americans in R...
Sarah Jaffe has written Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt (Nation Books, 2016). Jaffe is a Nation Institute fellow and an independent journalist. Over the last few years, several authors on the podcast have discussed the growth of the Tea Party,
20 min
1846
Tom Mills, “The BBC: Myth of a Public Service” ...
The BBC is often thought to be a great, impartial, defender of British values and society. In The BBC: Myth of a Public Service (Verso, 2016), Tom Mills, a lecturer in Sociology at Aston University, re-reads the history of the BBC to offer a more probl...
40 min
1847
Kirsty Sedgman, “Locating the Audience: How Peo...
The value of the arts is a constant and vital question in contemporary culture. In Locating the Audience: How People Found Value in National Theatre Wales (Intellect Books, 2016) Kirsty Sedgman, British Academy Research Fellow at the University of Bris...
39 min
1848
Paul C. Taylor, “Black is Beautiful: A Philosop...
Why is it controversial to cast light-skinned actress Zoe Saldana as the lead character in a film about the performer Nina Simone? How should we understand the coexisting desire and revulsion of the black body that traces its roots to Thomas Jefferson’...
64 min
1849
Patrick Wolfe, “Traces of History: Elementary S...
Widely known for his pioneering work in the field of settler colonial studies, Patrick Wolfe advanced the theory that settler colonialism was, “a structure, not an event.” In early 2016, Wolfe deepened this analysis through his most recent book,
48 min
1850
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, “Foucault in Iran: Isl...
How did the preeminent theorist and philosopher Michel Foucault experience and observe the Iranian revolution? How did he find the revolution disruptive of a teleological notion of history? And how did the Iranian revolution impact and shape Foucault’s...
36 min