New Books Network

In this engaging discussion, James Romm, the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College, delves into Plato's complex relationship with the tyrants of Syracuse. He reveals how Plato's encounters with Dionysius shaped his philosophical views, particularly on tyranny and governance. Romm humanizes Plato, understanding his struggles within the political intrigue of his time. The conversation even draws parallels to contemporary political dynamics, reminding us that the archetype of the tyrant remains relevant today.

Samuel Arbesman, a scientist at Lux Capital and author of The Magic of Code, dives into the enchanting world of coding. He discusses how code acts as a universal connector across disciplines, influencing our thoughts, language, and even our perception of reality. Arbesman emphasizes the balance between the wonder of programming and its potential to create societal rifts. He explores the poetic beauty of code, its evolution paralleling human languages, and the democratic impact of tools like HyperCard, urging everyone to engage with technology meaningfully.

Laura Garbes, a sociologist and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, tackles the pressing issues of exclusion and resistance within the public radio industry. She explores the historical dominance of whiteness in public media, critiquing the persistent lack of diverse representation. Garbes highlights the challenges faced by professionals of color, including tokenization and financial hurdles. The conversation also delves into the evolving landscape of public media and its future, especially in light of technological changes and funding dynamics.

Nidhi Mahajan, an Associate Professor at UC Santa Cruz, dives deep into the maritime world with her book, exploring how dhows connect South Asia and East Africa. She discusses the socioeconomic dynamics of small-scale trade and hospitality among seafarers, revealing the interplay of cultural identity and regulatory challenges. The conversation highlights the geopolitical intricacies of the Indian Ocean, including the risks of navigating sanctions and the evolving identities of communities affected by climate change and colonial legacies.

Huseyn Aliyev, a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow specializing in political violence in the former Soviet Union, dives into the world of paramilitary mobilization in Ukraine. He discusses how and why individuals join pro-government militias during conflicts. The podcast reveals insights from his ethnographic research, including interviews with militia members and the impact of external forces. Additionally, Aliyev highlights the role of crowdfunding in supporting military efforts and the evolving dynamics of Ukraine's security framework amidst ongoing conflict.

Matthew Benjamin Cole, a political theorist at Binghamton University, explores the influential role of dystopian narratives in shaping political thought. He discusses how fears of dystopia permeate today's political landscape, urging listeners to consider individual and collective actions that can forge a better future. Cole contrasts Orwell's bleak visions with contemporary concerns about technology and authoritarianism, stressing the importance of active democratic engagement to counter political indifference. His insights connect historical imaginations with current dilemmas, fostering a critical view of our societal narratives.

From Nevis to Newfoundland, Catholics were everywhere in English America. But often feared and distrusted, they hid in plain sight, deftly obscuring themselves from the Protestant authorities. Their strategies of concealment, deception, and misdirection frustrated colonial census takers, and their presence has likewise eluded historians of religion, who have portrayed Catholics as isolated dots in an otherwise vast Protestant expanse. Pushing against this long-standing narrative, in A Common Grave: Being Catholic in English America (UNC Press, 2025) Dr. Susan Juster provides the first comprehensive look at the lived experience of Catholics—whether Irish, African, French, or English—in colonial America. She reveals a vibrant community that, although often forced to conceal itself, maintained a rich sacramental life saturated with traditional devotional objects and structured by familiar rituals. As Dr. Juster shows, the unique pressures of colonial existence forced Catholics to adapt and transform these religious practices. By following the faithful into their homes and private chapels as they married, christened infants, buried loved ones, and prayed for their souls, Juster uncovers a confluence of European, African, and Indigenous spiritual traditions produced by American colonialism. 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/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

American anthropologist Oscar Lewis secured permission from Fidel Castro to undertake three years of field research on cultural and economic change in Cuba in the decade after the victory of Castro's M-26 Movement. Oscar Lewis in Cuba: La Partida Final (Berghahn Books, 2024) delves into Lewis' research goals, methods, the training and composition of his field team, and the difficulties of executing the plan in the political climate in Cuba at the time. The government's reasons for early termination of the research agreement are enumerated and their many discrepancies and inconsistencies evaluated. The experience of Project Cuba offers lessons on the difficulties of doing social science research in any highly surveilled, politically controlled environment however sympathetic the principal investigator. Susan M. Rigdon is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of The Culture Facade: Art, Science and Politics in the Work of Oscar Lewis (University of Illinois Press, 1988) and for 20 years co-authored the award winning textbook American Government (West, 1986). Katie L. Coldiron is Latin American & Caribbean Studies Librarian at Florida International University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Inspired by leaders such as Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson, the online Manosphere has exploded in recent years. Dedicated to anti-feminism, these communities have orchestrated online campaigns of misogynistic harassment, with some individuals going as far as committing violent terrorist attacks. Although the Manosphere has become a focus point of the media, researchers and governments alike, discussions tend to either over-sensationalize the community or offer simplistic explanations for their existence. This book uses a mixture of historical and economic analysis, alongside actual Manosphere content, to delve deeper. With The Male Complaint: The Manosphere and Misogyny Online (Polity, 2025), Simon James Copland explains how the Manosphere has developed and why it appeals to so many men. He argues that the Manosphere is not an aberration, but is deeply embedded within mainstream, neoliberal, social structures. For a cohort of alienated men, the promise of community provides a space of understanding, connection and purpose. This insightful book dares to dig into the corners of incel communities and online spaces where misogyny thrives. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand, and do something about, this growing and worrying phenomenon. Simon Copland is Honorary Fellow at the Australian National University. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The first account of Jewish children’s flight from Nazi Germany to France—and their subsequent escape to America from the Vichy regime At the eve of the Second World War, an estimated 1.6 million Jewish children lived in Nazi-occupied Europe. While 10,000 of them escaped to Britain in the Kindertransport, only some 500 found a new home in France. Here they attempted to begin again—but their refuge would all too soon become a trap.For the first time, Laura Hobson Faure brings to life the experiences of these children, and the Jewish and non-Jewish organizations who helped them. Drawing on survivors’ testimonies as well as children’s diaries, letters, drawings, songs, and poems, Who Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust (Yale UP, 2025) re-creates their complex journeys, including how some of them eventually found safety in America.Hobson Faure paints a moving portrait of these children and their escape, uncovering their agency in the flight from Nazism—and knits together the network of the many who aided them along the way. Laura Hobson Faure is professor of modern history and chair of Modern Jewish History at Université Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne. She’s an expert on French-American Jewish history and the author of The “Jewish Marshall Plan”: The American Jewish Presence in Post-Holocaust France. Geraldine Gudefin is a modern Jewish historian researching Jewish migrations, family life, and legal pluralism. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the National University of Singapore, and is completing a book titled An Impossible Divorce? East European Jews and the Limits of Legal Pluralism in France, 1900-1939. Find Geraldine here Mentioned in the podcast: Rebecca Clifford, Survivors, Children’s Lives after the Holocaust (Yale University Press, 2020). Rebecca Clifford, “Who is a Survivor? Child Holocaust Survivors and the Development of a Generational Identity,” Oral History Forum. Forum d’Histoire Orale 37 (2017). Beth B. Cohen, Child Survivors of the Holocaust: The Youngest Remnant and the American Experience (Rutgers University Press, 2018). Deborah Dwork, Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe (Yale University Press, 1991). Katy Hazan, “Le sauvetage des enfants juifs de France vers les Amériques, 1933-1947,” in Hélène Harter and André Kaspi, Terres promises: mélanges offerts à André Kaspi, 2008, p. 481-93. Katy Hazan, Rire le jour, pleurer la nuit: les enfants juifs cachés dans la Creuse pendant la guerre, 1939-1944 (Calman-Levy, 2014). Laura Hobson Faure, Manon Pignot, and Antoine Rivière, eds., Enfants en guerre. “Sans famille” dans les conflits du XXe siècle (CNRS, 2023). Sarah L. Holloway, Louise Holt, and Sarah Mills, “Questions of Agency: Capacity, Subjectivity, Spatiality and Temporality,” Progress in Human Geography 43, no. 3 (2019): 458–477. Laurent Joly, L'État contre les Juifs: Vichy, les nazis et la persécution antisémite 1940–1944 (Grasset, 2018). Célia Keren, “Autobiographies of Spanish Refugee Children at the Quaker Home in La Rouvière (France, 1940): Humanitarian Communication and Children’s Writings,” Les Cahiers de FRAMESPA 5 (2010). Lisa Moses Leff, The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015). Joanna B. Michlic, “Missed Lessons from the Holocaust: Avoiding Complexities and Darker Aspects of Jewish Child Survivors’ Life Experiences,” The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 17, no. 2 (Spring 2024): 272–286. See also her forthcoming book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network