Patrice Sarath, “The Sisters Mederos” (Angry Robot, 2018)
There is something almost sweetly Victorian about the new fantasy novel, The Sisters Mederos (Angry Robot, 2018), by Patrice Sarath, which concerns two young sisters enduring misfortune. The opening chapters reminded me of the childhood classic, The Little Princess, published in 1905. Yvienne and her magical sister, Tesera, daughters of a once rich trading family, are sent to a school for paupers, when their family is accused by creditors hungry for their downfall. In the traditional of some...
Jonathan Engel, “Unaffordable: American Healthcare from Johnson to Trump” (U Wisconsin Press, 2018)
Earlier this year, Jamila Michener visited the podcast to talk about her new book, Fragmented Democracy, about Medicaid and the state-based structure that results in very different experiences of Medicaid recipients from state to state. We return to the topic of health care this week. Jonathan Engel has recently written Unaffordable: American Healthcare from Johnson to Trump (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018). Engel is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College and an...
Irwin Hirsch and Donnell Stern, eds., “The Interpersonal Perspective and Psychoanalysis, 1960s-1990s” (Routledge, 2017)
The history of psychoanalysis is full of twists, turns and also glaring omissions. In their new two-volume set, editors Irwin Hirsch and Donnell Stern attempt to set the record straight in regard to the overlooked contributions of interpersonal writers and thinkers. In this interview, they speak at length about the history of the interpersonal tradition, why it was initially ignored by more traditional approaches, and how it became the one of the foundations of what is known as the relation...
David Atkinson, “The Burden of White Supremacy: Containing Asian Migration in the British Empire and the United States” (UNC Press, 2016)
Recent historical scholarship stresses the transnational linkages between movements to restrict Asian migration in the Anglophone world. David Atkinson’s The Burden of White Supremacy: Containing Asian Migration in the British Empire and the United States (UNC Press, 2016) offers an important revision to this literature by examining legal and social responses to Japanese and South Asian mobility in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the U.S. between 1896 and 1924. Atkinson ar...
Marc Hertzman, “Making Samba: A New History of Race and Music in Brazil” (Duke UP, 2013)
In Making Samba: A New History of Race and Music in Brazil (Duke University Press, 2013), Marc Hertzman revisits the history of Brazils quintessential music and dance genre to explore the links between popular music, intellectual property, law, racial democracy and nation formation. Charting more than a century of sambas development, Hertzman challenges simplistic narratives of the all too often romanticized form, focusing instead on the material conditions under which this cultural...
Gary Dorrien, “The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel” (Yale UP, 2018)
The black social gospel–formulated and given voice by abolitionists and post-reconstruction Black men and women–took the United States by storm in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Black Christians were not the only ones involved in the black social gospel though. Rev. Dr. Gary Dorrien’s The New Abolition: W.E.B Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel (Yale University Press, 2018) argues that although Du Bois would not consider himself a black social gospel adherent, he was ...
John Krinsky and Maud Simonet, “Who Cleans the Park? Public Works and Urban Governance in New York City” (U Chicago Press, 2017)
It is possible that you did not know that you need a comprehensive labor market analysis of the New York City Parks Department, but John Krinsky and Maud Simonet, in their new book, Who Cleans the Park? Public Works and Urban Governance in New York City (University of Chicago Press, 2017), show that you do. Join us as we talk with Krinsky about what this wildly segmented labor force tells us about work, workers, and workplaces today (not to mention race, sexual harassment, and real estate). T...
Adrienne Sharp, “The Magnificent Esme Wells” (Harper, 2018)
At six, Esme Wells has never attended school, but she has already learned how to take care of her father: accompany him to the racetrack, load up on hot dogs when asked, and keep an eye open for stray tickets that may turn out to be winning bets. When not watching the horses or accompanying her father to pawnshops to pay for his habit, more than once with his wife’s wedding ring, Esme hangs around the Hollywood back lots where her mother, Dina, seeks a screen test and stardom while dancing i...
George Perkovich and Ariel E. Levite, “Understanding Cyber Conflict: 14 Analogies” (Georgetown UP, 2017)
Understanding Cyber Conflict: 14 Analogies (Georgetown University Press, 2017), edited by George Perkovich and Ariel E. Levite, uses analogies to conventional warfare and previous technological innovations to explain the complexities of cyber capabilities and threats. The essays examine cyber weapons, cyber warfare, and cyber defense using case studies that include the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the use of drones. This book is a worthwhile thought exercise to better understand how cyber...
Marcella Corsi et al., “Classical Economics Today: Essays in Honor of Alessandro Roncaglia” (Anthem Press, 2018)
I met in Rome, at Sapienza University, two of the three editors of a great new book in economics. Marcella Corsi is professor of economics at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and editor of the International Review of Sociology. Carlo D’Ippoliti is associate professor of economics at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and editor of PSL Quarterly Review. He is also one of the hosts of this channel. The third editor is Jan Kregel, director of research at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard ...