New Books in History

Marshall Poe

American Revolution

Slavery

World War II

British Empire

John F. Kennedy

Ottoman Empire

Russia

Soviet Union

United States

Taiwan

Winston Churchill

Nazi Germany

Beijing

Late Antiquity

North America

Colonialism

Labor History

Postal Service

Iran

New York City

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ... more

337 ratings

Publishes	Daily	Episodes	2000	Founded	19 years ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	Society & CultureHistory

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Latest Episodes

Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II with Tejasvi Nagaraja (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

Tejasvi Nagaraja joins Michael Stauch to talk about Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). They discuss how the mobilization of soldiers and defense workers for World War II ... more

Yesterday • 1 hr

Jefferson’s Wolf: A Founding Father’s Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery with Christa Dierksheide and Nicholas Guyatt (Belknap Press, 2026)

In this episode, Matthew Mason (Professor of History at Brigham Young University) interviews Christa Dierksheide (Brockman Foundation Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia) and Nicholas Guyatt (Professor of ... more

Yesterday • 55 min

On the Street of the Hidden Shops: One City Block, Two Thousand Years, and a Walk Through the Layered Lives of Rome with Elizabeth Rodini (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Elizabeth Rodini joins Jana Byars to talk about her new forthcoming book, On the Street of Hidden Shops: One City Block, Two Thousand Years, and a Walk Through the Layered Lives of Rome (U Chicago Press, 2026). Delve into Rome's lost history through ... more

24 Oct 2026 • 43 min

Runes: A Concise History with Tom Birkett (Oxford UP, 2025)

Tom Birkett, University College, Cork, joins Jana Byars to discuss his new book, Runes: A Concise History (Oxford UP, 2025) An accessible and illuminating introduction to the history of the runic script, a writing system in use in the medieval North ... more

23 Oct 2026 • 47 min

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Recent Guests

Elizabeth Rodini

Art historian and author of On the Street of the Hidden Shops

American Academy in Rome

Episode: On the Street of the Hidden Shops: One City Block, Two Thousand Years, and a Walk Through the Layered Lives of Rome with Elizabeth Rodini (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Tom Birkett

Scholar of Old English and Old Norse literature and runology

University College Cork

Episode: Runes: A Concise History with Tom Birkett (Oxford UP, 2025)

Christopher R. Pearl

Professor of history at Lycoming College and author of Declarations of Independence.

Lycoming College

Episode: Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution with Christopher R. Pearl (U Virginia Press, 2024)

Tyler Priest

Associate professor of history at the University of Iowa and author of The Offshore Imperative

University of Iowa

Episode: Offshore Oildom: America’s Energy Expansion into the Ocean with Tyler Priest (LSU Press, 2026)

Martin Kristoffer Hamre

Historian of modern European fascism, far-right movements, and internationalism

University of Oslo

Episode: Fascists of the World, Unite?: A History of Fascist Internationalism in the 1930s with Martin Kristoffer Hamre (de Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2025)

Talitha L. LeFlouria

Historian of Black women, mass incarceration, and the legacies of American slavery

The University of Texas at Austin

Episode: Searching for Jane Crow: Black Women and Mass Incarceration in America from the Auction Block to the Cell Block with Talitha LeFlouria (Beacon Press, 2022)

David Turner

Professor of history whose research focuses on disability history in Britain

Swansea University

Episode: Disability: A History of Resistance with David Turner (Random House, 2026)

Frances Kolb Turnbell

Historian at the University of North Alabama and senior editor of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

University of North Alabama

Episode: Spanish Louisiana: Contest for Borderlands, 1763–1803 with Frances Kolb Turnbell (LSU Press, 2024)

Dr. Sarah Pearsall

Historian; Professor and Chair, Department of History at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

Episode: Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution with Sarah M. S. Pearsall (Doubleday, 2026)

Host

Sullivan Summer

Host of Additions to the Archive, New Books Network

Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars from 337 ratings

Great Series
Scholars are interviewed about their research, their books.
Apple Podcasts
5
Lime Twig
United Statesa year ago
Comparative blame: Slavery v Holocaust
How could the interviewer fail to ask the central question in a comparative discussion re black slavery and the shoa: were Jews involved in initiating and carrying out black slavery? They were. Were Africans involved in carrying out the shoa? They weren’t.
Apple Podcasts
1
curious african american
United States2 years ago
Chris
I love this podcast. Have listened to so many fascinating interviews on all sorts of topics. Excellent stuff!!
Apple Podcasts
5
Motzerrerr
Australia2 years ago
Gone downhill
Used to love the channel but now half the episodes are hosted by Ari Barbalat who is the most insufferable interviewer on the planet
Apple Podcasts
2
AshP1928
Canada2 years ago
Please reconsider your advertising. They make me want to die
Cop prison guard etc are not viable careers. They are soul crushing morally bankrupt lives of desperately reconciliation of evil activities
Podcast Addict
1
alembicle
3 years ago

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Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Scholars praised for accessible, book-focused conversations with archival depth.

Audio quality and interview style receive mixed feedback from listeners.

Guests consistently praised for bringing rigorous expertise to public discussions.

Positive notes about the show's role in connecting academic research with wider audiences.

Some listeners feel host interview skills and production quality vary across episodes.

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Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and Its Eurasian Counterparts with Michael Khodarkovsky (Yale UP, 2026)

Q: Why did Eurasian empires rely so heavily on elites from conquered peoples, and how did this work in Russia?

Khodarkovsky argues that rulers used new elites to counterbalance established local nobility and preserve autocratic power. In Russia and other Eurasian empires, people from conquered groups could rise to senior government positions, while the ruler retained greater control over the state.

The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and Its Eurasian Counterparts with Michael Khodarkovsky (Yale UP, 2026)

Q: What does the familiar story that Peter the Great opened Russia to Europe and Catherine the Great completed the transformation get wrong?

Khodarkovsky argues that Russia was always a hybrid empire, substantially shaped by the steppe and Asia. He says Peter's and Catherine's changes affected a limited part of society, while the deeper shift toward westernization began with the Great Reforms of the 1860s.

Sojourners, Sultans, and Slaves: America and the Indian Ocean in the Age of Abolition and Empire with Gunja SenGupta (U California Press, 2023)

Q: What does Fatima's wish to return to Muscat reveal about the distance between official emancipation and a person's own understanding of freedom, and how do you read her choice through a record shaped by colonial authorities?

Fatima's choice reflected her adult social world and kinship ties in Muscat, despite the coercion she had experienced. Her refusal to return to India illustrates how colonial categories of origin and rescue could conflict with an individual's own sense of belonging and preferred future.

Sojourners, Sultans, and Slaves: America and the Indian Ocean in the Age of Abolition and Empire with Gunja SenGupta (U California Press, 2023)

Q: What must people be able to do in their movement, work, family life, sense of security for freedom to be really meaningful?

SenGupta says freedom must be understood through what formerly enslaved people could actually do, including choosing work, moving, forming or keeping family ties, belonging to a community and living safely. Legal emancipation alone did not guarantee those capabilities.

The Centrality of Slavery: Empire and Enslavement in Colonial Illinois and Missouri with John Craig Hammond (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

Q: Is it fair to say that the control of the state was more important than control of the plantation for enslavers?

Yes. Hammond argues that imperial states gave enslavers the authority and force needed to maintain slavery. Where government support weakened in Illinois, enslaved people gained greater control over their labor and slavery declined; Spanish state support helped sustain slavery in Missouri.

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Books in History

What is New Books in History about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This show features scholarly conversations that unpack recently published historical works, often tracing long-running debates, archival methods, and the frontiers of public history. Episodes frequently center on race and memory, colonialism and empire, Indigenous histories, social reform, and how visual culture or material culture illuminate past events. Guests are typically historians or researchers presenting book-based arguments, with hosts guiding through methodological choices, source material, and broader implications for scholarship and public understanding. A standout pattern is the explicit aim to connect rigorous scholarship with accessible storytelling, making complex histories engaging for both academics and informed general li... more

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Which podcasts are similar to New Books in History?

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1. New Books in Critical Theory
2. The LRB Podcast
3. Jacobin Radio
4. In Our Time
5. In Our Time: Philosophy

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New Books in History launched 19 years ago and published 2000 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on New Books in History?

Recent guests on New Books in History include:

1. Elizabeth Rodini
2. Tom Birkett
3. Christopher R. Pearl
4. Tyler Priest
5. Martin Kristoffer Hamre
6. Talitha L. LeFlouria
7. David Turner
8. Frances Kolb Turnbell

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