New Books Network

R.J. Snell, philosopher and director of academic programs at the Witherspoon Institute and author of Lost in the Chaos, explores modern disenchantment and attempts at re-enchantment. He contrasts technocratic false religions with authentic hope, traces hope from Anglo-Saxon warriors to Soviet dissidents, and considers beauty, liturgy, and the moral costs of living truthfully.

James Lin, historian of Taiwan and author of The Global Vanguard, explores how Taiwan crafted and exported a “Taiwan model” of agrarian development. He discusses South-to-South missions, land reform training, the 1959 Vietnam project, African initiatives, and how development served diplomatic and domestic legitimacy. Conversations probe how technical reforms met local limits and Cold War politics reshaped modernization.

Pär Zetterberg, a political science professor who studies elections and gender quotas, and Elin Bjarnegård, a political scientist focused on gender, violence, and authoritarianism, discuss how autocrats use simultaneous gender bashing and gender washing. They map tactics, contrast strategy versus ideology, and survey global cases where reforms, rhetoric, and representation are weaponized or staged.

John B. Judis, author and journalist known for books on American populism, argues Trump fits Hegel’s idea of a “world-historical individual.” He compares Trump to figures like Napoleon and Caesar. The conversation covers how structural crises propelled him, his shift toward megalomania after 2020, risks of foreign adventurism, and the grim fates such transformative leaders often face.

Gijs Kruijtzer, historian and author who compares Persianate and Latin legal cultures, discusses how people defended practices seen as transgressive. He outlines four modes of justification and shows parallels across Muslim and Christian worlds. He explores poetry, art, fatwas, and legal maneuvers that softened prohibitions and traces rising consequentialist reasoning.

Dr. Ioana Shakira, an international lawyer and NATO trainer specializing in legal warfare and Indo-Pacific security. She walks through NATO stability policing: its definition, history, and doctrine. Short takes cover gendarmerie strengths, lawfare risks, cultural challenges, multi-domain links, and future scenarios including regional priorities like Latin America.

Claire Goldstein, Professor of French and humanities scholar at UC Davis, studies seventeenth-century French literature and material culture. She traces how comets sparked social panic, periodical news-making, court spectacle, and ballets. The conversation highlights archival sleuthing, theater and publication networks, and how comet mania shaped the rise of state science and the Paris Observatory.

Hsuan L. Hsu, Professor of English working at the intersections of environmental humanities, sensory studies, and critical ethnic studies. He explores smellscapes and how scent carries memory, race, and colonial histories. He discusses diasporic scents, speculative olfaction in fiction and art, toxic and extractive odor contexts, and how scent can reimagine more just atmospheres.

Lucia Motolinia, political scientist and author studying electoral reform effects in Mexico. She discusses how re-election rules and party control interact. She explores staggered reforms as a natural experiment. She contrasts primaries and party appointments. She explains why reforms can boost party loyalty while shaping targeted, particularistic responsiveness.

Jasmina Tumbas, Associate Professor studying queer and feminist interventions in contemporary art. Jonathan Blackwood, curator and writer focused on post-Yugoslav cultural ecologies. They explore hauntology and lingering Yugoslav legacies. Topics include archival recoveries, diaspora networks, precarious art economies, queer and feminist lineages, non-aligned cultural ties, and contested curatorial practices.