New Books Network

Donna Stein, curator and former art advisor to Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi, helped build Tehran’s modern art collection in the 1970s. She recounts travels to Tehran, key acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions. She reflects on working in the queen’s office, daily life as an American in Tehran, and the collection’s fate after 1979.

Terry Williams, sociologist and ethnographer at The New School, spent decades living alongside people sheltering in Manhattan’s tunnels. He recounts discovering hidden subterranean communities and the physical spaces they inhabited. Short, vivid stories explore daily survival, informal work like can-collecting, shifting public attitudes, and the pathways between underground life and topside housing.

Lesly-Marie Buer, medical anthropologist and harm reduction worker, draws on ethnographic research in rural Kentucky. She examines gendered pathways through treatment and the limits of drug courts, DCBS programs, and buprenorphine access. She describes stigma, survival strategies like mutual aid, and the rollout of syringe services and harm reduction in deeply resource-poor communities.

Gershom Gorenberg, a columnist and Middle East historian, recounts WWII intelligence battles across North Africa and the Levant. He traces Enigma breakthroughs at Bletchley Park. He describes clandestine Italian and Nazi spying, Jewish involvement with British intelligence, and high-stakes contests over codes and loyalties. The narrative highlights contingency, security failures, and the race to prevent Axis control of the region.

Louis Rothschild, clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, discusses his book on father-son rapprochement. He questions rigid gender binaries and explores how paternal and maternal roles intertwine. The conversation ranges from masculinity’s social valuation to literature, Winnicott, and reworking attachments across the lifespan.

Adam Bursi, scholarly author and editorial assistant, discusses his book on relics and sacred spaces in early Islam. He traces debates over prophetic tombs, relics like Maqam Ibrahim, and texts that shape presence and absence. Short scenes explore hadiths about tombs, hidden holy bodies, and how tactile practices made places sacred.

Kay Dickinson, Programme Convenor at the University of Glasgow and author exploring global music and politics, unpacks ABBA's 'Fernando' as both pop commodity and political narrative. She traces its travels from Sweden to Chile, its queer and female followings, and its musical mashups. Short, lively conversations probe lyrics, production choices, and why a song about freedom became a worldwide sing-along.

Justin Owen Rawlins, Assistant Professor of Media and Film Studies who studies reception history, discusses how popular ideas of “methodness” shaped who could be seen as a true actor. He traces the invention and policing of the Method, probes its racial and gendered effects, contrasts figures like Brando, Dean, Wayne, and Garfield, and previews questions about AI and digital performers.

Jonathan Silverman, scholar of American popular culture, and Michael Hinds, researcher of transnational fandom, discuss Johnny Cash’s global legacy. They recount fieldwork from Norway to Portugal. Topics include online fan communities, YouTube covers, pilgrimages to museums and landmarks, and how Cash bridges generations, politics, and local identities around the world.

Natasha Heller, associate professor in Religious Studies and scholar of Chinese Buddhism. She explores how Taiwanese picturebooks have become a new Buddhist genre and family-based sites of religious education. Short readings show how classic sutras, playful monk figures, cute buddhas, and civic-themed books teach children. The discussion highlights storytelling, visual pedagogy, and home-centered Buddhist formation.