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New Books in Biography & Memoir

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 get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetworkSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Keith Cantú, "Like a Tree Universally Spread: Sri Sabhapati Swami And Śivarājayoga" (Oxford UP, 2023)

41 mins; November 16, 2023

Beatriz Nascimento, "The Dialectic Is in the Sea: The Black Radical Thought of Beatriz Nascimento" (Princeton UP, 2023)

48 mins; November 14, 2023

Jennifer Burns on the Life and Lasting Influence of Milton Friedman

43 mins; November 14, 2023

Shelley Fraser Mickle, "White House Wild Child: How Alice Roosevelt Broke All the Rules and Won the Heart of America" (Imagine, 2023)

33 mins; November 11, 2023

Ralph H. Craig III, "Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner" (Eerdmans, 2023)

82 hours 52 mins; November 10, 2023

Steven E. Lindquist, "The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya" (SUNY Press, 2023)

31 mins; November 09, 2023

Seamus Heaney’s Afterlives

82 hours 23 mins; November 08, 2023

Shannon McKenna Schmidt, "The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back" (Sourcebooks, 2023)

34 mins; November 06, 2023

David Alan Parnell, "Belisarius & Antonina: Love and War in the Age of Justinian" (Oxford UP, 2023)

60 hours 9 mins; November 04, 2023

Jacqueline R. Braitman, "She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman" (UP of Mississippi, 2020)

67 hours 57 mins; November 02, 2023

Sharony Green, "The Chase and Ruins: Zora Neale Hurston in Honduras" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023)

70 hours 57 mins; November 01, 2023

Woodrow Wilson: Patrick Weil’s "The Madman in the White House"

40 mins; October 31, 2023

Scott Eyman, "Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided" (Simon & Schuster, 2023)

55 mins; October 31, 2023

Matthew Thiessen, "A Jewish Paul: The Messiah's Herald to the Gentiles" (Baker Academic, 2023)

66 hours 6 mins; October 22, 2023

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" (Vintage, 2006)

70 hours 35 mins; October 21, 2023

The Unquiet Legacy of Jewish Radical Meir Kahane

45 mins; October 19, 2023

Sanjay Krishnan on V. S. Naipaul: To make the Deformation the Formation (JP)

39 mins; October 19, 2023

Vikram Visana, "Uncivil Liberalism: Labour, Capital and Commercial Society in Dadabhai Naoroji’s Political Thought" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

70 hours 45 mins; October 18, 2023

Paul Clammer, "Black Crown: Henry Christophe, the Haitian Revolution and the Caribbean's Forgotten Kingdom" (Hurst, 2023)

55 mins; October 18, 2023

Victoria Houseman, "American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton" (Princeton UP, 2023)

30 mins; October 15, 2023

Parks M. Coble, "The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

56 mins; October 14, 2023

Jana Randow and Alessandro Speciale, "Mario Draghi, the Craftsman: The True Story of the Man Who Saved the Euro" (Rizzoli, 2019)

55 mins; October 14, 2023

Peter Stark, "Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation" (Random House, 2023)

80 hours 20 mins; October 14, 2023

Kristen Green, "The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail" (Seal Press, 2022)

64 hours 21 mins; October 14, 2023

Helen Rappaport, "In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Black Cultural Icon" (Pegasus Books, 2022)

72 hours 43 mins; October 13, 2023

Patrick Laude, "Surrendering to the Self: Ramana Maharshi's Message for the Present" (Hurst, 2021)

45 mins; October 12, 2023

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, "The Vice President's Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn" (UNC Press, 2023)

66 hours 25 mins; October 10, 2023

Oluwatomisin Olayinka Oredein, "The Theology of Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Ecumenism, Feminism, and Communal Practice" (U Notre Dame Press, 2023)

40 mins; October 08, 2023

Charlotte Gray, "Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt" (Simon & Schuster, 2023)

50 mins; October 07, 2023

Lee Wind, "No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves" (Zest Books, 2021)

58 mins; October 05, 2023

Janet Somerville, "Yours, for Probably Always: Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love and War 1930-1949" (Firefly Books, 2022)

51 mins; October 03, 2023

Viet Thanh Nguyen, "A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, a History, a Memorial" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023)

55 mins; October 03, 2023

Sumit Chakrabarti, "Local Selfhood, Global Turns: Akshay Kumar Dutta and Public Culture in Nineteenth-Century Bengal" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

38 mins; September 28, 2023

Sirpa Salenius, "An Abolitionist Abroad: Sarah Parker Remond in Cosmopolitan Europe" (U Massachusetts Press, 2016)

52 mins; September 27, 2023

Jessica Hendry Nelson, "Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief" (U Georgia Press, 2023)

36 mins; September 25, 2023

Mark Thomas Edwards, "Walter Lippmann: American Skeptic, American Pastor" (Oxford UP, 2023)

53 mins; September 25, 2023

Michael O’Sullivan, "The Poet & the Baroness: W. H. Auden and Stella Musulin, a Friendship" (CEU Press, 2023)

34 mins; September 22, 2023

Jeffrey Angles, ed., "Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again: The Original Novellas by Shigeru Kayama" (U Michigan Press, 2023)

52 mins; September 21, 2023

Anthony Gad Bigio, "A Sephardi Turkish Patriot: Gad Franco in the Turmoil of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic" (Hamilton Books, 2023)

57 mins; September 17, 2023

Chris Molanphy, "Old Town Road" (Duke UP, 2023)

48 mins; September 15, 2023

Gregory Cahill, "The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen" (Life Drawn, 2023)

77 hours 6 mins; September 14, 2023

A Better Way to Buy Books

34 mins; September 12, 2023

Sarah Ruden, "Vergil: The Poet's Life" (Yale UP, 2023)

65 hours 35 mins; September 10, 2023

L. M. Ratnapalan, "Robert Louis Stevenson and the Pacific: The Transformation of Global Christianity" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

59 mins; September 09, 2023

Jonathan Sandler, "The English GI: World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy's Adventures in the United States and Europe" (2022)

58 mins; September 08, 2023

Steven Veerapen, "The Wisest Fool: The Life of James VI and I" (Birlinn, 2023)

53 mins; September 07, 2023

Erik Sherman, "Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

46 mins; September 06, 2023

Tomaz Jardim, "Ilse Koch on Trial: Making the 'Bitch of Buchenwald'" (Harvard UP, 2023)

56 mins; September 06, 2023

Kristal Brent Zook, "The Girl in the Yellow Poncho: A Memoir" (Duke UP, 2023)

33 mins; September 05, 2023

Zachary Jacobson, "On Nixon's Madness: An Emotional History" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023)

37 mins; September 03, 2023

John Szwed, "Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith" (FSG, 2023)

61 hours 28 mins; September 03, 2023

Peter K. Andersson, "Fool: In Search of Henry VIII's Closest Man" (Princeton UP, 2023)

24 mins; September 02, 2023

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, "Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality" (Knopf Doubleday, 2023)

61 hours 43 mins; August 30, 2023

On “Henry Kissinger and His World” with author Barry Gewen

62 hours 29 mins; August 29, 2023

David Waldstreicher, "The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence" (FSG, 2023)

69 hours 43 mins; August 28, 2023

Julian Jackson, "France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain" (Harvard UP, 2023)

58 mins; August 27, 2023

Mbaye Lo and Carl W. Ernst, "I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar Ibn Said's America" (UNC Press, 2023)

48 mins; August 25, 2023

Becoming Justice Thomas

56 mins; August 20, 2023

Kevin Landis, "One Public: New York’s Public Theater in the Era of Oskar Eustis" (Methuen Drama, 2022)

57 mins; August 19, 2023

Earl Cureton and Jake Uitti, "Earl the Twirl: My Life in Basketball" (McFarland, 2023)

89 hours 29 mins; August 15, 2023

Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell, "Johnson at 10: The Inside Story" (Atlantic Books, 2023)

44 mins; August 15, 2023

Jeremy Black, "Smollett's Britain" (St. Augustine's Press, 2022)

22 mins; August 14, 2023

Marsha Gordon, "Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott" (U California Press, 2023)

53 mins; August 13, 2023

Michael Broers, "Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire, 1811-1821" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

35 mins; August 12, 2023

Shana Rosenblatt Mauer, "Mordecai Richler's Imperfect Search for Moral Values" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2022)

48 mins; August 12, 2023

Ashley Robertson Preston, "Mary Mcleod Bethune the Pan-Africanist" (UP of Florida, 2023)

28 mins; August 12, 2023

William J. Mann, "Bogie and Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood's Greatest Love Affair" (Harper, 2023)

51 mins; August 09, 2023

Michèle Miller Sigg, "Birthing Revival: Women and Mission in Nineteenth-Century France" (Baylor UP, 2022)

96 hours 35 mins; August 05, 2023

Jill L. Newmark, "Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons" (Southern Illinois UP, 2023)

56 mins; August 03, 2023

James Crossley and Robert J. Myles, "Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict" (Zero Books, 2023)

98 hours 37 mins; August 02, 2023

D. J. Taylor, "Orwell: The New Life" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

46 mins; August 01, 2023

Talking Clarence Thomas: A Conversation with Amul Thapar

42 mins; August 01, 2023

Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey

15 mins; July 31, 2023

Adom Getachew and Jennifer Pitts eds. "W. E. B. Du Bois: International Thought" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

39 mins; July 30, 2023

The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke

52 mins; July 28, 2023

Stephen C. Taysom, "Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith" (U of Utah Press, 2023)

45 mins; July 28, 2023

Michelle Dowd, "Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult--A Memoir" (Algonquin, 2023)

53 mins; July 26, 2023

Nicole Evelina, "America's Forgotten Suffragists: Virginia and Francis Minor" (Two Dot Books, 2023)

44 mins; July 24, 2023

Howard Fishman, "To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse" (Dutton, 2023)

54 mins; July 22, 2023

Hannah Pittard, "We Are Too Many: A Memoir [Kind of]" (Henry Holt, 2023)

55 mins; July 14, 2023

Alfred J. Rieber, "Stalin As Warlord" (Yale UP, 2022)

69 hours 31 mins; July 12, 2023

Joseph Sassoon, "The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire" (Pantheon, 2022)

64 hours 57 mins; July 12, 2023

Francis L. Sampson, "Look Out Below!: A Story of the Airborne by a Paratrooper Padre" (Catholic U of America Press, 2023)

48 mins; July 11, 2023

Peter Stansky, "The Socialist Patriot: George Orwell and War" (Stanford UP, 2023)

43 mins; July 04, 2023

TaTa Dada: The Real Life and Celestial Adventures of Tristan Tzara

17 mins; July 02, 2023

Katherine C. Mooney, "Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey" (Yale UP, 2023)

83 hours 55 mins; July 02, 2023

Stephen Hauser, "The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries: The Education of a Doctor" (St. Martin's Press, 2023)

58 mins; July 01, 2023

John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle, "Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living" (Princeton UP, 2023)

31 mins; July 01, 2023

Deirdre Bair on Artist Saul Steinberg

46 mins; July 01, 2023

Greg A. Salazar, "Calvinist Conformity in Post-Reformation England: The Theology and Career of Daniel Featley" (Oxford UP, 2022)

37 mins; July 01, 2023

Anna Müller, "An Ordinary Life?: The Journeys of Tonia Lechtman, 1918-1996" (Ohio UP, 2023)

73 hours 50 mins; June 30, 2023

Kaya Sahin, "Peerless Among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman" (Oxford UP, 2023)

66 hours 58 mins; June 29, 2023

David Wenham, "Jesus in Context: Making Sense of the Historical Figure" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

37 mins; June 27, 2023

Marcello Musto, "The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography" (Stanford UP, 2020)

127 hours 34 mins; June 25, 2023

Thomas W. Lippman, "Get the Damn Story: Homer Bigart and the Great Age of American Newspapers" (Georgetown UP, 2023)

75 hours 38 mins; June 24, 2023

Samuel G. Freedman, "Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights" (Oxford UP, 2023)

56 mins; June 21, 2023

Frank Costigliola, "Kennan: A Life Between Worlds" (Princeton UP, 2023)

63 hours 2 mins; June 19, 2023

Tanvi Srivastava, trans., "The War Diary of Asha-san: From Tokyo to Netaji's Indian National Army" (Harper Collins, 2022)

44 mins; June 15, 2023

Judith Hicks Stiehm, "Janet Reno: A Life" (UP of Florida, 2023)

23 mins; June 14, 2023

Douglas Kerr, "Orwell and Empire" (Oxford UP, 2022)

42 mins; June 09, 2023

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