New Books in Public Policy

New Books Network

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Mar 19, 2026 • 1h 14min

Sunmin Kim, "The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Sunmin Kim, associate professor of sociology and author of The Unruly Facts of Race, studies race, immigration, and the politics of knowledge. He recounts the Dillingham Commission's clash between racial theories and messy realities. Short takes cover how scientists like Franz Boas and Yamato Ichihashi complicated racial categories, how ethnicity reshaped classifications, and how commission findings fed quota politics and selective inclusion.
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Mar 18, 2026 • 53min

Andreas Malm and Wim Carton, "The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It’s Too Late" (Verso Books, 2025)

Andreas Malm, associate professor of human ecology and author focused on climate politics, discusses adaptation, carbon removal, and solar geoengineering. He maps how adaptation projects can entrench inequality. He critiques unproven negative-emissions technologies and the political allure of solar geoengineering, including risks like termination shock. The conversation traces the political battles shaping late-stage climate responses.
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Mar 16, 2026 • 36min

Courtney Humphries, "Climate Change and the Future of Boston" (Anthem Press, 2026)

Courtney Humphries, writer, environmental social scientist, and educator with a PhD in urban environmental issues. She explores Boston’s warming, sea level rise, and extreme precipitation. She links historic landmaking, redlining, and infrastructure to uneven climate risk. She discusses city planning, building regulations, and equity challenges around heat, housing, and resilience.
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Mar 14, 2026 • 40min

Suzanne Mettler and Trevor E. Brown, "Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy" (Princeton UP, 2025)

Trevor E. Brown, political scientist studying polarization and place-based inequality, discusses his coauthored book on the growing rural–urban political divide. He traces how economic shifts, local institutions, and organizational mobilization deepened the split. He also examines institutional advantages, racial dynamics, democratic risks, and strategies for rebuilding local political organizations.
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Mar 11, 2026 • 1h 1min

Biko Koenig, "Worker Centered: Allyship & Action in the Contemporary Labor Movement" (Oxford UP, 2024)

A ground-level ethnographic look at a workplace organizing campaign among low-wage, immigrant workers. Tensions between promised worker leadership and ally-driven practice come into focus. Strategies, measurement mistakes, and why a campaign failed are discussed. Broader questions about representation, movement goals, and how allies should build power are raised.
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Mar 10, 2026 • 48min

Jacob Stegenga, "Heart of Science: A Philosophy of Scientific Inquiry" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Jacob Stegenga, philosopher of science and professor at Nanyang Technological University, argues science should prioritize justification and shared standards over immediate truth. He discusses common knowledge, evaluating scientific practice in real time, indigenous knowledge and diversity as tools for objectivity, and how values and progress fit into a means-oriented view of science.
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Mar 10, 2026 • 55min

Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent Change in Congress

Dr. Maya Kornberg, a political scientist and Brennan Center researcher, explores why Congress resists change. She traces reform attempts across decades and highlights freshman classes, fundraising pressures, social media’s double edge, and rising political violence. The conversation points to institutional constraints and practical reforms to help new members legislate and rebuild representative power.
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Mar 6, 2026 • 1h 4min

Nicholas Beuret, "Or Something Worse: Why We Need to Disrupt the Climate Transition" (Verso, 2025)

Nicholas Beuret, lecturer in environmental politics and activist-scholar on climate and capitalism. He maps the 'war of transition' where elites shape the green shift for profit. Short takes on rising everyday costs, de-risked investment, coercive 'green' jobs, and the case for disruptive tactics and community-linked organizing to build alternative power.
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Mar 6, 2026 • 54min

Amy Littlefield, "Killers of Roe: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights" (Legacy Lit, 2026)

Amy Littlefield, investigative reporter who has covered abortion rights for over a decade, unravels the mystery of Roe's fall. She frames the story as a whodunit, probes secret organizers and funding tactics, and recounts tragic cases like Rosie Jimenez and Becky Bell. She also explores fundraising, local ordinances, private‑enforcement loopholes, and why quiet grassroots work offers a path forward.
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Mar 5, 2026 • 41min

Jennifer Randles, "Living Diaper to Diaper: The Hidden Crisis of Poverty and Motherhood" (U California Press, 2026)

Jennifer Randles, sociologist and author of Living Diaper to Diaper, investigates diaper insecurity and its ties to parenting policy. She traces how disposables became essential and why safety nets miss diapers. She explores parents' creative coping, the rise of diaper banks and their limits, and policy ideas like vouchers and WIC-style programs.

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