New Books Network

New Books Network

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New Books Network episodes

  • Dominic Roser et al., "All the Lives You Can Change: Effective Altruism for Christians" (Eerdmans, 2026)

    All the Lives You Can Change: Effective Altruism for Christians (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2026) is a practical guide for Christians who want their compassion, generosity and service to create meaningful change in the world. The book asks readers to look beyond good intentions and consider which choices can make the greatest difference in the lives of others.

    The authors introduce effective altruism, an evidence-based approach to doing the most good, through a Christian framework. They connect careful reasoning, measurable outcomes and thoughtful stewardship with the biblical commands to love God and love our neighbors.

    Drawing from Scripture, research and nonprofit experience, the book explores how Christians can give more wisely, choose careers with greater impact and direct their time, money and influence toward urgent global needs. It also encourages readers to expand their understanding of who counts as a neighbor, including people who may be distant, unfamiliar or easy to overlook.

    Key Ideas:

    • Good intentions matter, but Christians should also consider the real outcomes of their efforts.
    • Loving our neighbor requires radical empathy that extends beyond the people and needs closest to us.
    • Every person has equal worth, but different causes and charitable approaches can have very different levels of impact.
    • Evidence, reason and data can serve as instruments of love when they help us understand what people truly need.
    • Giving to effective causes can sometimes accomplish far more than simply giving more.
    • Money, careers and influence are all forms of stewardship that can be used to address pressing and neglected global problems.
    • An impact-driven life is not about solving every problem. It is about faithfully focusing on the lives we genuinely can change.
    • One of the strongest ideas from the conversation is that Christian love should be centered on the person receiving help, not only on the intentions of the person giving it. Careful reasoning can help Christians become wiser stewards while taking Jesus’s command to love our neighbors seriously. If you read the book, you’ll learn practical ways to move beyond feeling overwhelmed with giving of your resources and focus on where your choices can create genuine change.

      Angela Marie Hutchinson is the author of “Create Your Yes! When You Keep Hearing No,” named a Forbes No. 4 book to advance your career. She is a podcast host for New Books Network, where she leads conversations for the neuroscience and Christianity channels. Hutchinson is also a talent and intellectual property executive, former social media professor and BBC commentator. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      56 min
    • Yiddish Language During the Holocaust

      The Holocaust radically altered the way many East European Jews spoke Yiddish. Finding prewar language incapable of describing the imprisonment, death, and dehumanization of the Holocaust, prisoners added or reinvented thousands of Yiddish words and phrases to describe their new reality. These crass, witty, and sometimes beautiful Yiddish words – Khurbn Yiddish, or “Yiddish of the Holocaust” – puzzled and intrigued the East European Jews who were experiencing the metamorphosis of their own tongue in real time. Sensing that Khurbn Yiddish words harbored profound truths about what Jews endured during the Holocaust, some Yiddish speakers threw themselves into compiling dictionaries and glossaries to document and analyze these new words. Others incorporated Khurbn Yiddish into their poetry and prose. In Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish, Hannah Pollin-Galay uses cultural history, philology, and literary interpretation to explore Khurbn Yiddish as a form of Holocaust memory and as a testament to the sensation of speech under genocidal conditions.

      Join YIVO for a discussion with Pollin-Galay about this new book, led by historian Samuel Kassow.

      Buy the book: here

      This book talk originally took place on December 2, 2024.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      1 hr 3 min
    • Katharina Stevens, "The Ethics of Argumentation" (Routledge, 2025)

      The Ethics of Argumentation (Routledge, 2025) offers a new approach to the theory of argumentation that conceptualizes argumentation as a fundamentally ethical activity whose norms are grounded in, and must be selected according to, moral reasons. Current normative approaches to argumentation do not treat ethics as an integral part of argumentation theory. This is at least in part due to a methodological commitment not to address internal states of the arguers, such as intentions and beliefs, which makes moral theorizing about argumentation difficult. This book presents three arguments for why ethics ought to be a central element in normative theorizing about argumentation. First, it shows that ethics is needed for providing normative argumentation theory with its foundation and for offering arguers reliable guidance for decision-making both about which norms ought to govern their arguing and how they should shape each argument they make. Second, it addresses some of the most persistent problems faced by currently dominant normative approaches to argumentation, most notably that they are only reliable under the assumption that unrealistic background conditions are fulfilled. Finally, it provides the groundwork for a systematic ethics of argumentation. It does so by showing how a function of argumentation can be justified via moral reasons and by providing the outlines for both an applied ethics of (meta-level) normative argument design and an applied role-ethics of object-level arguing. The Ethics of Argumentation (Routledge, 2025) is essential reading for researchers and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines-including philosophy, communication studies, linguistics, and rhetoric-who are interested in argumentation, critical thinking and social epistemology"

      Katharina Stevens is a philosopher and argumentation theorist working at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. She is one of the editors of the journal Informal Logic and one of the directors of the Critical Thinking and Citizen Engagement Lab at the University of Lethbridge.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      1 hr 2 min
    • Sara Pappas, "Naturalism's Imaginary Museum, French Art, and the Eclectic Nineteenth Century" (U Toronto Press, 2024)

      Naturalism's Imaginary Museum, French Art, and the Eclectic Nineteenth Century (University of Toronto Press, 2024) examines one of the most revered art historical narratives of Western

      art: the famous turning point for painting and sculpture usually
      emblematized by the works of Édouard Manet and then the Impressionists.
      Instead of the usual revaluation of this turning point, Sara Pappas
      argues for the importance of the failure to find a cohesive story for
      the art world in the period itself, a difficulty that carries forward to
      galleries today. In order to demonstrate the importance of incongruity
      and disorder, Pappas brings together two worlds that may seem
      incompatible: nineteenth-century literary writers involved in naturalism
      and the organization of permanent collections of later
      nineteenth-century French art in today's museums. Drawing on the art
      novels and art criticism of these writers, the book provides optimal
      access to the questions that continue to haunt the categorization and
      display of nineteenth-century art.

      Guest Sara Pappas is Associate Professor of French and Visual Culture

      at the University of Richmond. In addition to this volume, she has
      published articles on topics from 19th century art criticism by literary figures such as Baudelaire and Zola to the Expositions universelles
      to contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley’s influence on French art, as well
      as co-curating an exhibit of Nineteenth Century French and Russian Art
      at the Harnett Museum of Art.

      Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of

      Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and
      speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism
      to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan
      France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript under
      review on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      42 min
    • Matthew Pinsker, "Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln" (Norton, 2026)

      We know Abraham Lincoln as the eloquent, compassionate leader of a

      nation torn by civil war. But he had another, less visible side, equally
      central to his character and leadership: Lincoln was a master of party
      politics. Schooled as a Whig in the rough-and-tumble of Illinois
      electioneering in the 1830s, Lincoln skillfully navigated treacherous
      partisan crosscurrents and helped build the Republican party into a
      viable force. His decades of experience as a party leader proved
      invaluable to him as president and commander in chief during the Civil
      War.

      Matthew Pinsker’s groundbreaking Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln

      (W.W. Norton & Company, 2026) draws extensively on Lincoln’s
      private correspondence to move beyond the marble icon and realize a
      flesh-and-blood character in Boss Lincoln. Behind closed doors he was
      shrewd and insistent, capable of deft manipulation, blunt intimidation,
      or thoughtful argument as needed. As a decision-maker he was attentive
      to detail but kept his own counsel and trusted his own acumen. His aides
      noted that in cabinet meetings Lincoln had the final say, and “there is
      no cavil.” Devoted to elections, he kept careful, handwritten tallies
      of party turnout, even gifting one to Mary Todd, another partisan,
      during their courtship. His hymn to democracy at Gettysburg in 1863
      carried a partisan message to the political leaders gathered there: The
      fight for the union would take place at the polls as well as on the
      battlefield. Boss Lincoln often sacrificed candor for purpose. He used
      his White House meeting with Frederick Douglass in 1864, ostensibly
      about emancipation, to send a message to radicals about his need for
      their support. With emancipation and the war’s outcome at stake, facing
      withering criticism from all sides, Lincoln won reelection by building a
      new political coalition through the Union party. Here was Boss Lincoln
      at his height, captured in absorbing detail in this indelible portrait
      of our greatest president.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      1 hr 13 min
    • Muslims and the Minority Question across the Indian Ocean: A Conversation With Roy Bar Sadeh

      In this conversation, we are entering an Indian Ocean world connected

      by steamships, telegraphs, pilgrimage routes, and print. From Bombay
      and the Gulf to Cairo and Mecca—and onward to Moscow and
      Geneva—merchants, scholars, activists, and political exiles debated a
      question that still feels urgent: how can different communities live
      together without being reduced to permanent majorities and minorities?

      Bombay

      sits near the center of our story. Under British rule, it was a major
      imperial port. But it was also a meeting place where Indian Ocean
      merchants financed publications, hosted traveling scholars, and helped
      ideas cross borders.

      At the same time, British censuses and

      representative politics produced a striking paradox. South Asia
      contained the world’s largest Muslim population, yet Muslims were
      increasingly classified as a political minority within India.

      Dr. Roy Bar Sadeh

      is a historian of modern South Asia and the broader Islamic world,
      joining the University of Oxford in September 2026 as an Associate
      Professor in the Faculty of History and at St Antony’s College. He is
      currently a Lecturer at the University of Manchester.

      His many articles and forthcoming book with University of Chicago Press,  Muslims and the Minority Question: A Global History of South Asia, 1856–1947, follow

      the people who refused to accept that minority label as their political
      destiny. Along the way, we’ll talk about food and language, Gulf pearl
      merchants and printing presses, rival plans for Mecca, an unlikely
      Soviet-Saudi partnership, and the search for protection beyond the
      nation-state.

      Host: Dr. Ahmed Y. AlMaazmi, an assistant professor of history at New York University Abu Dhabi.

      Co-host: Dr. Mohammed Alsudairi,

      a Lecturer of Politics and International Relations of the
      Arabic-speaking world at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the
      Australian National University.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      1 hr 11 min
    • Carly Thomsen, "Reproductive Justice, Queerly" (U California Press, 2026)

      Queer theory and reproductive justice need each other—now more than ever. As liberals and leftists increasingly frame reproductive justice in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, often adopting the language of “queerness,” it has become difficult to see that their political demands and strategies are often quite conservative. In Reproductive Justice, Queerly (U California Press, 2026), Carly Thomsen examines typical reproductive justice issues—including abortion, surrogacy, crisis pregnancy centers, paid parental leave, and parenting—in queer ways. She shows what can happen when we bring queer theory and reproductive justice together: a queerer, more powerful articulation of what we are fighting for.

      Your host Yining Pan is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      52 min
    • Samuel Marquis, "Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701" (Pegasus Books, 2026)

      Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701

      (Pegasus Books, 2026) by Samuel Marquis presents a
      powerful episode of early American history, revealing the very human
      story of friendship and alliance between Colonel Peter Schuyler and the
      Iroquois during King William’s War (1689–1701). Like Philbrick’s Mayflower and Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon, this new book reveals how fragile alliances and cross-cultural diplomacy changed the course of empires in North America.

      At the heart of the book is Peter Schuyler, a Dutch-American

      mayor of Albany, Indian Affairs commissioner, and militia colonel who
      earned deep trust among the Iroquois. Decades ahead of his time in his
      respect for Native diplomacy and sovereignty, Schuyler helped forge and
      sustain a fragile alliance between English colonists and the
      Haudenosaunee (Five Nations of the Iroquois) during a decade of brutal
      warfare. That alliance, known as The Covenant Chain, not only blocked
      French ambitions in the region, but also shaped the political and
      military landscape of the American frontier for the next one hundred
      years.

      Told

      through multiple perspectives, the book also follows two unforgettable
      Indigenous figures during the conflict. Lawrence, a Mohawk war captain,
      serves as Schuyler’s compatriot on the battlefield, working for and
      navigating the survival of his people. Hilletie van Olinda, a biracial
      Mohawk-Dutch woman, becomes a key translator and diplomatic go-between,
      using her language skills and cultural fluency to mediate between the
      Iroquois and English.

      Across

      a decade of war, espionage, and political intrigue—from the 1689
      Leisler’s Rebellion and 1690 Schenectady Massacre to the climactic Grand
      Settlement of 1701—these intertwined stories reveal the human cost and
      political complexity behind one of early America’s most consequential
      alliances.

      This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book

      focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty
      negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative
      analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find
      Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. 

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      46 min
    • Jonathan Cheng, "Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult" (Knopf, 2026)

      Of the two Koreas, it is the South which appears much the more Christian today, with all major cities dotted with church spires and illuminated crosses. But a century ago it was the northern half of the peninsula that was the more established home for Christianity, the northwestern city of Pyongyang being celebrated as a “Jerusalem of the East.” And among the faith’s devotees were the parents of the man who would eventually come to lead the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from the middle of the twentieth century.

      Kim Il Sung, Jonathan Cheng shows in his fluidly written and richly researched book Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult (Knopf, 2026), grew up in an environment suffused in Christian teachings and actively involved himself in church life, facts which raise questions about his later career as a guerrilla fighter and national leader. Cheng traces the long arc of Christian associations in Kim’s biography, from the arrival of Presbyterianism in Korea through to the leader’s battles with the church as North Korean leader, his softening towards the faith in later life, and of course his erection of a personality cult around himself that had no few similarities with the practices and aesthetics of Christianity. Understanding North Korea from its founding until the present day thus, Cheng shows, demands an awareness of an at-times-astonishing collision of religion, nationalism and authoritarianism which are narrated expertly in this thought-provoking book.

      Jonathan Cheng professional web page here

      Book website here

      Ed Pulford is an Anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on friendships and histories between the Chinese, Korean and Russian worlds, and socialism and empire in Eurasia.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      1 hr 4 min
    • Blair L.M. Kelley, "Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days" (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026)

      For more than 150 years, Black communities have gathered to honor

      freedom, resilience, and the ongoing struggle for true liberation. While
      Juneteenth has recently gained wider recognition, it was one of many
      Emancipation Day traditions celebrated across the United States. These
      observances were spaces of joy, remembrance, and resistance—even as the
      fight for full freedom was unfinished. Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026) brings
      together stirring essays and striking images from Juneteenth and
      beyond, offering a sweeping portrait of how Black people have created
      and sustained rituals of remembrance, a testament to the generations
      who, through celebration and storytelling, demanded that their
      contributions to the making of America be fully recognized.

      Blair L.M. Kelley, Ph.D. is a renowned author, historian, and scholar

      of the African American experience. She is the seventh president of the
      National Humanities Center,
      the only independent center for advanced study in the world dedicated
      exclusively to the humanities. Blair previously held senior leadership
      roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the Joel R.
      Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies and Director of
      the Center for the Study of the American South and at North Carolina
      State University where she served as Associate Dean for
      Interdisciplinary Affairs and Partnerships and the Alumni Graduate
      Professor of History. You can find her on all social platforms
      @profblmkelley.

      Subscribe, like, follow, and rate Additions to the Archive with Sullivan Summer on Instagram, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts.

      Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

      48 min

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