New Books Network

David Bather Woods, associate professor at Warwick and Schopenhauer scholar, discusses his new philosophical biography. He explores Schopenhauer’s life, tone, and how pessimism coexists with compassion. Conversations touch on influence on artists, the porcupine parable, boredom versus suffering, suicide and madness, sex and gender, and why Schopenhauer still matters today.

Antony Polonsky, historian and author of a multi-volume history of Jews in Poland and Russia, guides a grand sweep of Eastern European Jewish life. He traces medieval settlement and shtetl culture. He explores the rise of Hasidism, the Haskalah, urbanization, migrations, pogroms, and 20th century catastrophes. He also discusses postwar revival, memory, and museum efforts.

A lively dive into prolepsis, the flash-forward technique traced from modernist origins to its ubiquity in contemporary fiction and film. The conversation explores why opening scenes often depict severe violence and how that style dramatizes structural and unequal vulnerability. It considers prolepsis as a narrative form that both highlights inevitability and leaves room for imagining political change.

Susanne Vees-Gulani, Professor of German and comparative literature who studies memory and urban history. She traces Dresden’s long cultural branding and how WWII bombing narratives were shaped by propaganda and postwar politics. The conversation covers GDR memory practices, tensions between Holocaust remembrance and local narratives, and how competing memories feed present-day far-right and cultural pushback.

Andrew I. Port, a professor of German history who studies postwar Germany and the GDR, guides listeners through Germany’s dramatic 20th-century transformation. He traces parallel East/West paths, explains how division and unification unfolded, and examines stability, reunification hopes and disappointments, and the recent rise of the far right.

Liz Fried, co-founder of Gist Books with publishing and rights experience, and Ramona Liberoff, co-founder focused on systems change and consumer innovation, discuss customizable print-on-demand volumes. They talk about personalization of topics, how POD reduces waste and speeds iteration, the role of visuals and physical books, use-cases like gifting and institutions, and AI in production.

Eliyahu Stern, scholar of Jewish intellectual history and author of The Genius, explores Elijah of Vilna, an 18th-century rabbinic prodigy. He traces Vilna’s rise in an Eastern European milieu. Short segments cover the cult of genius, the Gaon’s terse textual method, his clash with Hasidism, and how his legacy shaped modern Jewish movements.

Stephen G. Brooks, Dartmouth professor and author, explores how economic forces shape interstate war, terrorism, and civil conflict. He argues the links are complex and sometimes contradictory. He discusses development’s inverted-U effect on terrorism, why trade and globalization can both help and harm security, and how Adam Smith informs a more nuanced policy approach.

Janice Hadlow, novelist and former TV producer with a first-class degree in history, explores an 18th-century affair. She unpacks why older married women took younger lovers and the social rules that kept them discreet. Letters, long-distance longing, age and desire, and the risks of scandal all come up. Hadlow also reads a key scene and teases an Austen-adjacent next project.

Orsi Husz, historian at Uppsala University who studies everyday economic life, discusses how banks became woven into daily routines in welfare-state Sweden. She traces archival evidence of wage accounts, credit cards, welfare payments, and targeted marketing. Short, vivid explanations map bankification across gender, identity, and the rise of digital payments.