New Books Network

Boredom is a common human experience.
It may strike us as straightforward—a mere absence or lack, an emotional emptiness of sorts—yet it is anything but simple. It is complicated: personal and social, biological and cultural, both ever-changing and constant. It can spur action, both productive and harmful. It affects us differently based on our social identity and standing. Boredom is both a mirror of the complexities of human existence and a cause of them.
In The Anatomy of Boredom (Oxford UP, 2025), Andreas Elpidorou offers a groundbreaking examination of this ubiquitous yet enigmatic dimension of human existence, illuminating its profound influence on our personal and social lives. Through interdisciplinary analysis, careful argumentation, and captivating insights, Elpidorou presents a functional theory of boredom, which understands and individuates boredom in terms of its role in our mental, behavioral, and social existence. This theory provides a compelling synthesis of existing research, connects the present of boredom to its history, and allows us to apply our knowledge of boredom to relatively unexplored domains, such as its relationship to the good life, self-regulation and self-control, poverty and capitalism, advancements in AI, animal emotions, and even aesthetics and art appreciation.
Ultimately, the study of boredom is revealed to be more than just an analysis of an intricate and important affective experience; it is also shown to be an insightful investigation into the complexities of human (and even non-human) existence.
Host: Renee Garfinkel
Guest: Andreas Elpidorou

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A.L. Waddington discusses her EVE series, including the gripping conclusion of the bestselling EVE series where Jocelyn and Jackson come face to face with the challenges of living combined lives on both planes. While Jackson struggles under the demands of his chosen profession, Jocelyn discovers hidden branches on the family tree. But the more she uncovers, the deeper she finds herself and her family in an uncharted realm that no one considered possible. Can EVE not only skip around with family members but also switch branches?
The happy couple soon learns that a branch, like time, has the tendency to bend in the most unexpected directions and occasionally even break. When that happens, lives are forever changed, the forces of destinies altered, and fates derailed. The fluidity of time begins to take on an obscure meaning as the barrier between the two worlds fades into darkness.

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Pioneering Black journalist Wallace Terry risked his life on the battlefield writing for Time magazine during the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam, he captured the voices and experiences of Black soldiers and used the insights he gained to produce Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans (High Road Books, 2026). The book remains a classic reflection of a war that fractured US society and cost the lives of nearly fifty-eight thousand Americans.

Before risking his life on the front lines, Terry became deeply involved in reporting about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in the United States. “It was a story that I passionately cared for because it was going to affect me, my family, my children, and generations of Black people to come,” said Terry. Working for the Washington Post, he wrote the first newspaper series about the Nation of Islam, during which he interacted with Malcolm X, who sheltered him from harm when his stories upset some members of the movement. He also grew close to those who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for equality, including Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr., who became godfather to Terry’s eldest son. Making civil rights his focus gave him the opportunity to report on such seminal events as the Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

During his two years covering the Vietnam War, Terry traveled overseas to conduct numerous interviews with Black fighting men—soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines—that he later used as the basis for Bloods. He sought with his work to topple the conviction that “white soldiers are invincible and black soldiers are invisible.” Terry faced numerous challenges, including rejections from publishers who believed the public did not want to read about Black veterans from the conflict. Finally published in 1984, Bloods became a bestseller and remains a landmark work of military and oral history.

Boomhower has written the first-ever biography of one of the first Black national correspondents to be hired in the overwhelmingly white mainstream media, a reporter whose name belongs with the greats in American journalism. Wallace Terry lived a life filled with danger and betrayal, scoops and cover-ups, while immersing himself in events that changed the course of US history.
Guest: Ray E. Boomhower is the acclaimed author of twenty books, including biographies about some of the country’s finest war correspondents such as Ernie Pyle, Richard Tregaskis, and Malcolm W. Browne.
Host: Raymond Williams, PhD, is a political scientist, blogger, and book club administrator with an interest in American history, biographies, and politics.

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Can trade unions be reconceptualised as human rights organisations? This study explores the untapped potential of labour movements in human rights advocacy, drawing on extensive interviews with representatives of union confederations worldwide.
In Trade Unions as Human Rights Organisations: Approaches to and Experiences of Human Rights Advocacy (Bristol UP, 2026), Dr. Matthew Evans provides both theoretical foundations and empirical evidence for viewing trade unions through a human rights lens, examining existing partnerships with NGOs and identifying opportunities for enhanced collaboration. Through detailed analysis of concrete political campaigns, this book reveals how union-based advocacy networks operate in practice.
Essential reading for scholars of labour relations, human rights and political advocacy, this innovative work opens new pathways for understanding and strengthening human rights movements globally.
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.

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How has the United Nations shaped the management of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and what can its history of peacekeeping teach us about the challenges facing the Middle East today? In this episode of International Horizons, Eli Karetny speaks with Diego Salama, Research Associate at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs, about his new book, The UN’s Multi-Dimensional Approach to the Israel-Arab Conflict, 1967–1982: An Architecture for Peace (Routledge, 2026).
Drawing on previously classified UN archival material, Salama examines how four UN operations developed into an interconnected regional peacekeeping system, highlighting their operational achievements, institutional limitations, and capacity for innovation. The conversation explores the UN’s role in the negotiations following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the challenges posed by the aftermath of October 7, and the growing crisis of confidence in multilateralism. Salama argues that the UN’s institutional memory, established relationships, and operational experience remain essential assets for addressing the region’s future, even as its structures require reform and renewed strategic direction.

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