New Books Network

Mia Bennett, an associate professor of geography who maps Arctic frontier-making, discusses rapidly changing Arctic geographies. She talks about melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, and new shipping routes. She covers rising geopolitical competition, strategic flashpoints like the Bering Strait, and Indigenous governance experiments.

David Potter, a leading scholar of Greek and Roman history, offers a fresh look at Julius Caesar. He focuses on Caesar’s own writings and public image. Topics include Caesar’s family myth and political identity. He traces the violence that shaped his youth, his rhetorical training, the pragmatic politics of the First Triumvirate, his managerial innovations in Gaul, and the limits of military rule in Rome.

Annahid Dashtgard, CEO of Anima Leadership and racial justice consultant, combines activism and executive coaching. She discusses the book’s origins, blending memoir with practical leadership tools. Conversations cover compassion over blame, balancing rage with strategy, using power well as leaders of color, and building inclusive, nonpunitive learning spaces.

Matthew P. Romaniello, historian of Russian imperial history and medicine, explores 18th-century naturalists and physicians who mapped Russia’s people, climate, and health. He discusses humoral medicine as ethnography, transnational medical networks, scurvy and variolation campaigns, travel writing biases, and how climate shaped imperial knowledge and reputation.

Margaret Heffernan, author and former CEO with BBC media roots, explores how artists turn uncertainty into creative opportunity. She discusses how artistic habits sharpen decision timing, the limits and uses of historical analogies, and why companies need artists for imaginative strategy. Topics include scenario storytelling, cross-domain innovation, hedging bets, and the governance challenges of AI.

Danielle Girard, novelist known for tense psychological thrillers, discusses her 2026 novel Pinky Swear and the seeds of its suspense. She talks about teenage choices that shape adult lives. She explores Cleveland and Midwest roots, surrogacy research, trust symbolized by a pinky promise, and how secrets and small‑town rules drive betrayal and redemption.

Peter D. McDonald, author and scholar combining English literature and game design, explores how modern play was shaped after mid-20th century. He traces Fluxus experiments to corporate role-playing and video games. He outlines four styles like the impossible reversal and simulated freedom. The conversation surveys designed play, cultural shifts, and surprising links across art, toys, and tech.

Jan Yager, sociologist and prolific author on productivity and relationships, presents eleven memorable principles for mastering time. She discusses research-driven methods, practical exercises, using AI and delegation, crafting routines that enable spontaneity, honoring relationships and pets, and the role of endings and stillness in making time work for a fulfilling life.

Casey Walker, novelist (Iowa Writers’ Workshop MFA; forthcoming Mexicali), discusses his story “Islands” set at a tense lake house and the fraught relationships among three orphaned brothers. He recounts the story’s decade-long evolution, editorial reshaping that uncovered key scenes, and teasers about his historical novel Mexicali set on the US–Mexico border.

Ted Goossen, a veteran translator of Japanese literature, reflects on arriving in Japan in 1968 and his long career translating Kawakami and Murakami. He discusses translating Hiromi Kawakami’s The Third Love, choices about Japanese love terms, linking Edo and Heian worlds to modern women, and shifting themes as women writers gain prominence in contemporary Japanese fiction.