New Books with Miranda Melcher

New Books Network

Temporary Monuments

Art

American Modernism

Patagonia

Environmental History

Art History

American Racial Enterprise

Cambridge School Of Architecture

Spatial History

Monuments

Eleanor Raymond

Ethel Power

Modern Architecture

Chilean National Identity

Argentinian National Identity

Land Art

Women In Architecture

Architectural Education

Architecture

Border Negotiations

A special series of interviews hosted by Dr. Miranda Melcher.

8 ratings

Publishes	Daily	Episodes	1282	Founded	a year ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	HistoryArtsBooks

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Latest Episodes

Javier Arbona-Homar, "Explosivity: Following What Remains" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)

Offering a novel approach to contemporary landscape studies, Explosivity: Following What Remains (U Minnesota Press, 2025) unearths the hidden legacies of violence that have shaped the physical and cultural environment of the San Francisco Bay area. ... more

Yesterday • 1 hr 6 min

Stephen C.E. Hopkins, "⁠Translating hell: Vernacular theology and apocrypha in the medieval North Sea"⁠ (Manchester UP, 2026)

In the Middle Ages, hell was useful because it was vaguely defined.

Canonical scriptures scarcely mention hell, leaving much to the imaginations of early Christians, who used it to sort out who belonged within the faith. Translating hell: Vernacular... more

Yesterday • 1 hr 3 min

Ann Carlson, "Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air" (U California Press, 2026)

Los Angeles and smog have been synonymous for decades. From the 1940s

through the 1980s, children breathed air so heavy with lead that their

blood was poisoned with it. In 1970, officials declared smog alerts on

235 days. But the last smog alert h... more

6 Jun 2026 • 33 min

Eileen Otis, "Walmart: Made in China" (Stanford UP, 2026)

Walmart: Made in China

(Stanford University Press, 2026) by Dr. Eileen Otis tells the story of

Walmart's expansion in China, making the case that it is the story of a

major shift in the structure of global capitalism. Walmart, argues Dr.

Otis, is... more

6 Jun 2026 • 1 hr 23 min

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Recent Guests

Keith Cooper

Science journalist and author

Reaktion (Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact)

Episode: Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)

Larry Bartels

Political scientist at Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Episode: Larry M. Bartels and Katherine J. Cramer, "The Politics of Social Change: From the Sixties to the Present Through the Eyes of a Generation" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Katherine Cramer

Political scientist at University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Episode: Larry M. Bartels and Katherine J. Cramer, "The Politics of Social Change: From the Sixties to the Present Through the Eyes of a Generation" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Rory Naismith

Author of Offa, King of the Mercians

University of Cambridge

Episode: Rory Naismith, "Offa: King of the Mercians" (Yale UP, 2026)

Paul Robichaud

Author of Stories of the Stones, Professor of English

Albertus Magnus College

Episode: Paul Robichaud, "Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland and Brittany" (Reaktion, 2026)

Kim Embrey

Historian of Victorian Britain and secondary school teacher in Germany

University/Independent historian (as discussed)

Episode: Kim Embrey, "Coca and the Victorians: From Botanical Curiosity to Regulated Drug, 1835–1912" (Transcript Publishing, 2025)

Peter Richardson

Author of Brand New Beat, The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine (UC Press, 2026)

University of California Press

Episode: Peter Richardson, "Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine" (U California Press, 2026)

Dominik Berrens

Classicist and author of Naming New Things and Concepts in Early Modern Science, The Case of Natural History

University of Mainz / ESC NOSCEMOS project

Episode: Dominik Berrens, "Naming New Things and Concepts in Early Modern Science: The Case of Natural History" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Hilary Matfess

Author of After Liberation, Women and the Politics of Expectations in Rebel to Party Transitions

Stanford University Press (book publisher); University of Denver (affiliation)

Episode: Hilary Matfess, "After Liberation: Women and the Politics of Expectations in Rebel-to-Party Transitions" (Stanford UP, 2026)

Hosts

Dr. Miranda Melcher

Host and editor, affiliated with the New Books Network series; leads scholarly interviews with authors across humanities.

Miranda

Occasional host contributing to the series under the New Books Network umbrella; participates in author-focused discussions.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts	#249	United Kingdom/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts	#210	France/Arts/Books

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

E. and H. Heron, "Flaxman Low: Occult Detective" (MIT Press, 2026)

Q: Always intriguing to understand how revival projects come to be. Given the long time between the original publication and this MIT Press reissue, what do you hope readers today take from these stories?

Readers should enjoy the stories and also come away with an appreciation for early psychological science, seeing how science, even in its infancy, attempted to explain hauntings and strange events through physical and brain-based explanations.

Sezai Ozan Zeybek, "Animals, Justice, and the Politics of Violence: Shared Struggles in Turkey" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)

Q: Well, speaking of introductions, could you please introduce yourself a little bit and tell us why you decided to write this book?

Ozan explains he is a human geographer, Turkish-born and based in Germany, and that the book weaves his life experiences with theoretical questions about justice, including how non-human beings fit into concepts like family, community, and labor. The book aims to revise familiar categories by centering animals in histories of conflict and urban life.

Paul Robichaud, "Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland and Brittany" (Reaktion, 2026)

Q: Could you start us off by introducing yourself a little bit and tell us why you decided to write this book?

Robichaud explains his long-standing fascination with stone circles and megaliths, tracing his interest from childhood curiosities to scholarly inquiries, and describes how the book emerged from examining not just the sites themselves but the stories and cultural meanings surrounding them.

Kim Embrey, "Coca and the Victorians: From Botanical Curiosity to Regulated Drug, 1835–1912" (Transcript Publishing, 2025)

Q: What does your book suggest about the long-term trajectory of drug regulation from this era?

Drug regulation emerged as a response to growing medical concerns, addiction narratives, moral concerns, and international pressure, suggesting that policy often follows a combination of scientific discovery and social reform.

Kim Embrey, "Coca and the Victorians: From Botanical Curiosity to Regulated Drug, 1835–1912" (Transcript Publishing, 2025)

Q: What role did advertising and media play in shaping Coca and Cocaine's reputation before regulation?

Media and marketing amplified exotic imagery and health claims, featuring prominent figures and medicines, which helped normalize use while seeds of concern about addiction began to emerge.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Books

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Scholarly interviews with authors and researchers across history, literature, art, and culture, focusing on how books shape our understanding of nations, monuments, labor, migration, and environmental history. Episodes often center on new academic releases, with rich discussions that connect archival work, methodological approaches, and broader societal implications. The show stands out for its rigorous, book-centric format, welcoming historians, theorists, and artists who illuminate how narratives and materials—from monuments to manuscripts—reframe public memory and identity.

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1. In Our Time
2. Not Just the Tudors
3. HistoryExtra podcast
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New Books launched a year ago and published 1282 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?

Recent guests on New Books include:

1. Keith Cooper
2. Larry Bartels
3. Katherine Cramer
4. Rory Naismith
5. Paul Robichaud
6. Kim Embrey
7. Peter Richardson
8. Dominik Berrens

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