New Books in Intellectual History

New Books Network

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Feb 2, 2026 • 59min

Luca Cottini, "The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919" (U Toronto Press, 2025)

Luca Cottini, associate professor of Italian studies at Villanova and creator of the Italian Innovators channel, explores how Italy absorbed and contested American influence around 1900. He traces migration, Columbus-themed national narratives, American visitors and products reshaping Italian life, and Woodrow Wilson’s soft power during World War I. Short, vivid stories reveal a two-way transatlantic exchange and the rise of an Italian Americanism.
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Feb 2, 2026 • 34min

Arnoud S. Q. Visser, "On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All" (Princeton UP, 2025)

Arnoud S. Q. Visser, professor of textual culture and director of the Huizinga Institute, discusses his book On Pedantry. He traces pedantry from ancient sophists to modern culture wars. Topics include satire of learned types, Christianity’s ambivalence toward knowledge, education and social status, gendered portrayals of intellectuals, and why anti-intellectual sentiment keeps resurging.
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Feb 1, 2026 • 1h 2min

Danielle N. Boaz, "Voodoo: The History of a Racial Slur" (Oxford UP, 2023)

Danielle N. Boaz, an Africana studies scholar-lawyer who researches persecution of Africana religions, traces how the English term "voodoo" became a racial slur. She outlines its Civil War roots in New Orleans and uses across Reconstruction, Haiti, Cuba, migration debates, and trafficking narratives. She calls for stopping casual use of the word and clarifying distinct sacred practices.
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Jan 31, 2026 • 43min

Peter Stansky, "The Socialist Patriot: George Orwell and War" (Stanford UP, 2023)

Peter Stansky, historian and longtime Orwell scholar, discusses his new book on how four wars shaped George Orwell. He traces Orwell’s move from pacifism to democratic socialism after Spain. He explores Orwell’s tensions between patriotism and critique of totalitarianism. He considers how Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four reflect wartime convictions and retain modern relevance.
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Jan 29, 2026 • 29min

Swapna Kona Nayudu, "The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

Swapna Kona Nayudu, historian at Nanyang Technological University and author of The Nehru Years, explores Nehruvian non‑alignment. She traces its intellectual roots and contrasts it with neutrality. She examines India's diplomatic mediation in Korea, Suez, Hungary, and the Congo. The conversation highlights how non‑alignment shifted from critique to a practiced, securitized state project.
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Jan 28, 2026 • 54min

Melissa Adler, "Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects" (Fordham UP, 2025)

Melissa Adler, Associate Professor of Information & Media Studies and author of Peculiar Satisfaction, explores how Thomas Jefferson shaped libraries, archives, and museums. She traces his cataloging and archival methods and their role in national memory. Short reflections cover classification that marginalizes, Jefferson’s museum practices, and why these institutions matter for democratic knowledge.
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Jan 28, 2026 • 50min

Brahim El Guabli, "Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and Its Radical Consequences" (U California Press, 2025)

Brahim El Guabli, Associate Professor and author of Desert Imaginations, studies desert studies and Moroccan history. He traces Saharanism as an ideology that renders deserts empty and exploitable. Topics include energy extraction, borders and migrant deaths, deserts as sacrifice zones, literary eco-care, and how desert imaginaries shape migration, war, and ecological futures.
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Jan 27, 2026 • 41min

Karin Wulf, "Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Karin Wulf, historian of early America who studies women, families, and politics. She explores how eighteenth-century genealogy shaped law, slavery, inheritance, religion, business, and memorial culture. Short, vivid stories show records from Bibles to gravestones. The book traces continuity through revolution and argues lineage wielded public power beyond private interest.
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Jan 27, 2026 • 38min

Duy Lap Nguyen, "Walter Benjamin and the Critique of Political Economy: A New Historical Materialism" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

Duy Lap Nguyen, Associate Professor in World Cultures and Literatures, offers a fresh book-length reading of Walter Benjamin that treats his dispersed writings as a coherent project. Nguyen explores Benjamin’s unique historical materialism, his critique of Kantian and progressive notions of history, the Arcades Project’s study of capitalist phantasmagoria, and contemporary political implications.
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Jan 25, 2026 • 1h 27min

Bradley R. Simpson, "The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941-2000" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Bradley R. Simpson, Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies at UConn, explains how self-determination evolved across the twentieth century. He traces competing visions from decolonization to indigenous and economic claims. Short, globe-spanning stories examine UN debates, small states, Pacific and African cases, and modern movements reshaping sovereignty.

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