New Books Network

Isabelle Held, scholar of gender and LGBTQ+ history and author of Atomic Bombshells, traces how nylon, silicone, and plastic foams moved from military labs into clothing, cosmetics, and implants. She follows material journeys from wartime tech to bullet bras, padded falsies, and breast implants. The conversation maps links between chemical firms, surgeons, advertising, and performance cultures shaping postwar bodies.

Tim Cresswell, professor of geography and poet, explores mobility and its politics. He contrasts the figures of the citizen and the vagabond. He discusses routes as infrastructure, speed and privilege, rhythms of work and resistance, friction and chokepoints, and what COVID lockdowns revealed about movement and inequality.

Guido Tabellini, economist and Bocconi vice president, co-author of Two Paths to Prosperity. He contrasts European corporations and Chinese clans. He explains how fragmentation, law, and associations shaped institutions. He links corporate organization to innovation and traces cultural roots in family and religion shaping cooperation.

Jennifer Dasal, curator, art historian, and podcast creator, uncovers The American Girls' Club in Belle Époque Paris. She traces its founders, the club’s cozy residential life, and how it sheltered ambitious American women painters. Stories include rubbing shoulders with Rodin, trading art for meals, and the club’s role in launching careers and activism.

Steve Zipperstein, Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford, reconsiders the 1903 Kishinev pogrom and its global reverberations. He traces how location, press coverage, and dubious documents amplified its reach. The talk probes networks, relief campaigns, and the contested origins of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Asif Iqbal, scholar of Bangladeshi literature, explores Anglophone and Bengali texts that imagine postcolonial Bangladesh. He traces Partition, Muslim nationalism, 1960s politics, and the 1971 war through novels, films, and digital sources. The conversation contrasts English and vernacular perspectives and highlights overlooked literary voices and future research directions.

Ishrat Hossain, researcher on 1971 narratives and political memory. Mubashar Hasan, scholar of resistance who survived enforced disappearance. Arild Engelsen Ruud, professor of South Asia studies on authoritarian backsliding. They explore the Gen Z uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina, how youth and online mobilization reshaped liberation narratives, comparative lessons from Asian uprisings, and the fraught path from mass protest to democratic reform.

Amelia Frank-Vitale, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Princeton who followed Honduran migrants and caravans, discusses border enforcement, invisible gangland neighborhood borders, and how deportation and policy fuel repeated movement. She also explores migrant caravans as both protest and practical tactic, and critiques short-term aid amid structural pressures.

Richard Lucas, a community-building entrepreneur behind TEDx, Open Coffee meetups and newcomer welcome projects. He talks about the processes that make gatherings inclusive and the scripted hosting techniques that help newcomers feel welcome. He explores how to turn attendees into contributors and how community projects can scale and sustain themselves.

Melissa Auf der Maur, Canadian musician and former bassist for Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins, reflects on her bohemian Montreal roots and the serendipity that launched her into '90s alternative rock. She revisits joining big bands after tragedy, reframes Courtney Love's complexity, and teases a vast archive of photos, a book, and a documentary.