New Books in Economic and Business History

As the debate around remote versus in-office work rages on, leaders in a wide range of industries continue to implement radically flexible work practices. Though there has been some pushback, many employers are still allowing most, if not all, of their employees to work from anywhere. The reason is that they understand that geographic flexibility offers a competitive advantage: the ability to attract and retain top talent globally. In The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025) Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj Choudhury takes us inside that have been fully committed to work-from-anywhere (WFA) policies and shows how these organizations and their employees are benefiting. WFA is s a means of hiring and retaining the best talent. Choudhury show how to best manage WFA teams, share knowledge, and combat isolation, leverage AI and automation to extend WFA into manufacturing and other deskless roles, and design programs that attract talent to different regions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of the last generation of British miners: fathers and sons, brothers and comrades, big hitters and broken men, strikers and scabs. Mining Men: Britain's Last Kings of the Coalface (Penguin, 2025) by Dr. Emily P. Webber explores how these men felt when the pits were closed and what happened next, including former miners who became factory workers, detectives, driving instructors, counsellors, the local mayor and one who even ended up working on Fleet Street. Featuring accounts from Ayrshire to the South Wales Valleys, from the ‘People’s Republic of South Yorkshire’, to the ‘Sunshine Corner Coalfields’ of Kent, each chapter offers a different perspective of the industry. Britain’s last deep coalmine closed in 2015, yet just fifty years ago the mining industry was a juggernaut, employing over 250,000 workers. Combining new personal interviews with extensive archival research, Dr. Webber illuminates the extraordinary history of the industry once considered the backbone of Britain. By situating the miners’ strike of 1984–85 in a longer history of the coalfields, we can understand why miners and their families fought so hard against pit closures, and what happened after the pit wheels stopped turning. Vivid, evocative and richly alive with minute detail, Mining Men uncovers what the mining industry once meant to its workers and their communities, and what Britain lost when it was gone. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crisis Cycle: Challenges, Evolution, and Future of the Euro (Princeton UP, 2025) John Cochrane Luis Garicano Klaus Masuch PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2025 Launched 26 years ago, the euro was never expected to have an easy life but it wasn't supposed to be this hard. A three-year solvency crisis, a string of bailouts, and a rescue by the European Central Bank (ECB) was followed by threats of deflation, negative interest rates, massive purchases of government debt, a global pandemic, a European land war, and an inflation surge. The euro area emerged from these tests but may not survive the next without reforms during this period of relative calm. In Crisis Cycle, economists John Cochrane, Luis Garicano, and Klaus Masuch call for critical reforms to rebuild the system's incentive structure and stop the ECB's unsought mission creep. "A beautiful ship was constructed," they write. "Out at sea, it ran into severe storms. Its captain and crew patched the holes as best they could. Now though it is time to return to the dry dock and fix the ship properly". John Cochrane is a professor of economics at Stanford University, best-known for his work on asset prices and the fiscal theory of the price level. Luis Garicano is an economics professor at the London School of Economics and former vice-chair of the Renew group in the European Parliament. Klaus Masuch recently retired from the ECB, where he was head of the monetary policy strategy department and a negotiator for the "Troika" of official creditors during the sovereign-debt crisis. To see the authors' own book recommendations, click here. Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Advisors, who also writes 242.news on Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Unseen History of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2025) locates and describes almost one thousand surviving copies of the first nine editions of Hugo Grotius' De iure belli ac pacis (IBP) published between 1625 and 1650. Meticulously reconstructing the publishing history of these first nine editions and cataloguing copies across hundreds of collections, The Unseen History provides fundamental data for reconstructing the impact of IBP across time and space. The authors, Dr. Mark Somos, Dr. Matthew Cleary, Dr. Pablo Dufour, Dr. Edward Jones Corredera, and Dr. Emanuele Salerno, also examined annotations that thousands of owners and readers have left in IBP copies over four centuries, offering original insights into the development of international law.Grotius' De iure belli ac pacis has been commonly regarded as the foundation of modern international law since its first appearance in 1625. Most major international law scholars have engaged with IBP, often owning and richly annotating their own copies. At key moments - including the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, the fall of Napoleon, and the end of both world wars - IBP was reissued with new commentaries by multinational projects devoted to restarting the international order. Despite the enormous literature on IBP's reception and influence, we cannot fully understand its impact without uncovering the history of IBP as a physical object, with hundreds of thousands of unpublished annotations arguing or agreeing with the text, updating and adapting its contents.Approaching Grotius' seminal work as a physical vehicle of the author's, the publishers', owners', and readers' engagement, The Unseen History radically expands and revises our understanding not only of IBP, but also of the academic discipline and lived practice of modern international law over the last four centuries. In addition to delving into the first nine editions' printing history, descriptive bibliography, and both Grotius' and the publishers' marketing and donation strategies, the book explores Grotius' subsequent impact on pro-slavery and abolitionist litigation as a case study of how the census' original findings can be applied to specific areas of reception. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Culinary Claims: Indigenous Restaurant Politics in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2025) by Dr. L. Sasha Gora explores the complex relationships between wild plants and introduced animals, Indigenous foodways, and Canadian regulations. Blending food studies with environmental history, the book examines how cuisines reflect social and political issues related to cultural representation, restaurants, and food sovereignty. Dr. Gora chronicles the rise of Indigenous restaurants and their influence on Canadian food culture, engaging with questions about how shifts in appetite reflect broader shifts in imaginations of local environments and identities. Drawing on a diverse range of sources – from recipes and menus to artworks and television shows – the book discusses both historical and contemporary representations of Indigenous foodways and how they are changing amid the relocalization of food systems. Culinary Claims tells a new story of settler colonialism and Indigenous resistance, emphasizing the critical role that restaurants play in Canada’s cultural landscape. It investigates how food shapes our understanding of place and the politics that underpin this relationship. Ultimately, the book asks, What insights can historians gain from restaurants – and their legacies – as reflections of Indigenous and settler negotiations over cultural claims to land? Culinary Claims presents a comprehensive history of Indigenous restaurants in Canada, highlighting their significant role in the evolution of Canadian food culture. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An exploration of workplace participation and earnings patterns for diverse women in US STEM professions that upends the myth that STEM work benefits women economically. Seen as part economic driver, part social remedy, STEM work is commonly understood to benefit both the US economy and people—particularly women—from underrepresented groups. But what do diverse women find when they work in US STEM occupations? What do STEM jobs really deliver—and for whom? In Disparate Measures: The Intersectional Economics of Women in STEM Work (MIT Press, 2024), Mary Armstrong and Susan Averett challenge the conventional wisdom that a diverse US STEM workforce will bring about economic abundance for the women who participate in it. Combining intersectionality theory and critical data theory with a feminist economic analysis, the authors explore how different groups of diverse women truly fare in US STEM professions.Disparate Measures is centered on eight unique, in-depth case studies, each of which provides an intersectional economic analysis (a term coined by the authors) of diverse women working in STEM occupations. Four case studies prioritize women of color and examine the STEM participation and earnings of Black women, American Indian and Alaska Native women, Asian and Pacific Islander women, and Hispanic women/Latinas; four additional case studies illuminate intersections that are frequently neglected by the STEM inclusivity literature: foreign-born women, women with disabilities, Queer women, and mothers. What the authors find in their groundbreaking, detailed analysis is that the promises of STEM are only partly true: when compared to women not working in STEM, most women are indeed economically elevated by STEM occupations—yet when compared to white men in the same STEM occupations, women's second-class status is usually reaffirmed. The authors conclude by offering seven “big-picture” recommendations for rethinking STEM equity, showing just how we can successfully confront the entrenched patterns of economic disadvantage faced by diverse women in STEM jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen by Rita Gunther McGrath Inflection points, as discussed first by Andy Grove in his book, Only the Paranoid Survive, are paradigmatic shifts that lead to entrepreneurial opportunities, such as those companies like Amazon and Netflix seized, or lead to failure, if not responded to adequately as in the instances of companies like Nokia, Blockbuster, Intel, Kodak, and Xerox. Leaders must “see around corners” to identify disruption and must respond appropriately. Business School Professor and consultant Rita McGrath contends that though the disruption often seems sudden, it is not entirely random and can be anticipated. Typically, it is the result of process that has been brewing for some time. Armed with the right strategies and tools, organizational leaders can identify that a disruption is arriving and can benefit from it if they take timely steps. This book is a guide to anticipating, understanding, and capitalizing the inflection points in the lives of business. Rich in example, itprovides a structured approach to understanding and responding to the disruptive inflections every business inevitably face. Case study presentations and illustrations are central. This book is a must for navigating in a world of constant disruptions. Alfred Marcus, Edson Spencer Professor of Strategy and Technology University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the JESB podcast, we focus on a landmark special issue: “Women as Economic Actors: New Sources, Theories, and Methods” (Vol. 10, No. 1, 2025). We begin the episode by exploring the editors’ introductory essay, which outlines key historiographical and methodological interventions, emphasizing the role of new archival practices, oral histories, and cross-disciplinary approaches. From there, we touch on the rest of contributing articles:Women as Economic Actors: New Sources, Theories, and MethodsBeatriz Rodríguez-Satizábal, Laura Milanes-Reyes, Paula De la Cruz-FernándezDOI: 10.1344/jesb.48176 From Dagongmei to Entrepreneurs: Unpacking the Emergence of Businesswomen in Shenzhen (1978–2000)Yuan Jia ZhengDOI: 10.1344/jesb.42747 Unveiling Entrepreneurial Identities: Perspectives from Women Entrepreneurs in the Global SouthPathiranage Padmali Manesha PeirisDOI: 10.1344/jesb.42336 Mind the Gap: How Media in Colombia Shapes the Gender DivideAna Pirela-Rios, Ana TribinDOI: 10.1344/jesb.42338From Eccentric to Professional: The Representation of Women Entrepreneurs in Business Magazines (Argentina, 1986–2010)Magdalena GarmendiaDOI: 10.1344/jesb.42337Presented by the editors Beatriz Rodríguez-Satizábal (Universidad del Pacífico), Laura M. Milanes-Reyes, and Paula de la Cruz-Fernández. ➡️ Explore the full issue here:http://revistes.ub.edu/index.p... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma Second Edition 2nd Edition by Charles A. O’Reilly III and Michael L. Tushman The second edition of this classic analyzes why mature organizations find it so difficult to innovate. This question has become ever more important as organizations face continuous disruptive changes. O’Reilly and Tushman offer strategies for using ambidextrous organizational structures and arrangements for flexibility so that organizations can adapt to fast-changing environments and grow. The authors have worked with leaders of organizations around the world who have confronted disruptive change. Using examples from such firms such as Microsoft, General Motors, and Amazon, they illustrate how leaders can change their organization's cultures, and rely on ideation, incubation, and to create growth. The podcast also discusses Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game by Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly, and Michael Tushman. Corporate Explorer explains how managers can become successful corporate innovators. It is a guidebook to the practices that enable managers to go from idea into action. Alfred Marcus, Edson Spencer Professor of Strategy and Technology University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fernando Pérez-Montesinos's first book, Landscaping Indigenous Mexico: The Liberal State and Capitalism in the Purépecha Highlands (University of Texas Press, 2025), focuses on the Purépecha people of Michoacán, Mexico, and examines why and how long-standing patterns of communal landholding changed in response to liberal policies, railroad expansion, and the rise of the timber industry in Mexico. A history of the Purépecha people's survival amid environmental and political changes. Fernando Pérez-Montesinos holds that landscapes are more than geological formations; they are living records of human struggles. Landscaping Indigenous Mexico unearths the history of Juátarhu, an Indigenous landscape shaped and nurtured by the Purépecha—a formidable Mesoamerican people whose power once rivaled that of the Aztecs. Although cataclysmic changes came with European contact and colonization, Juátarhu’s enduring agroecology continued to sustain local life through centuries of challenges. Contesting essentialist narratives of Indigenous penury, Pérez Montesinos shows how Purépechas thrived after Mexican independence in 1821, using Juátarhu’s diverse agroecology to negotiate continued autonomy amid waves of national economic and political upheaval. After 1870, however, autonomy waned under the pressure of land privatization policies, state intervention, and industrial logging. On the eve of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Purépechas stood at a critical juncture: Would the Indigenous landscape endure or succumb? Offering a fresh perspective on a seemingly well-worn subject, Pérez Montesinos argues that Michoacán, long considered a peripheral revolutionary region, saw one of the era’s most radical events: the destruction of the liberal order and the timber capitalism of Juátarhu. Fernando Pérez-Montesinos is a historian of modern Mexico with a focus on the nineteenth century and the Mexican revolution at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research combines environmental, social, and indigenous history to study the connections between processes of land privatization, class and state formation, and ecological change. At UCLA, he teaches courses on modern Latin America and Mexico, as well as environmental and indigenous history. I am currently one of the senior editors of the Hispanic American Historical Review. A chilango at heart, he enjoys tacos al pastor, the Mexican summer rains, and playing fingerstyle guitar. Hugo Peralta-Ramírez is a doctoral student in Colonial Mexican History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he works on the intersection of land, labor, and law among the indigenous communities of Oaxaca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices