Dana Simmons’s marvelous and thoughtful new book takes on a question that many of us likely take for granted: “What is a need; what is a want, a desire, a luxury?” Vital Minimum: Need, Science, and Politics in Modern France (University of Chicago Press, 2015) offers an answer that emerges from and is embedded in the particular historical context of nineteenth century France, but has consequences that range … Continue reading Vital Minimum: An Interview
Drugs exist that are meant to help people feel better. The doctors who prescribe them might believe that they work, while their patients do not. In explaining the drugs to their patients, should those doctors use the medical terminology they themselves use – which might not be immediately understandable to their patients – or should they translate the description into terms more comfortable and familiar … Continue reading Eating Drugs: An Interview
Elizabeth Lunbeck’s wonderful new book offers a fascinating account of the entwined histories of narcissism, psychoanalysis, and modernity in 20th and 21st century America. You can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading The Americanization of Narcissism: An Interview
Robert Richards and I recently spoke about his new collection of wonderfully engaging and provocative essays on Darwin, Darwinians, and much else. You can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading Was Hitler a Darwinian?: An Interview
Rob Mitchell and I recently spoke about his wonderful new book, an exceptionally inspiring study in the history and literature of science that traces experimental vitalism through a wide range of Romantic textual worlds from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. You can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading Experimental Life: An Interview
Jamie Cohen-Cole and I recently spoke about his wonderful new book on the emergence of a discourse of creativity, interdisciplinarity, and the “open mind” in the context of Cold War American politics, education, and society. It’s a beautifully written and carefully argued study of the history of science, and you can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading The Open Mind: An Interview
Emma Teng’s wonderful new book explores the history of discourses about Eurasian identity and the lived experiences of Eurasian people in China, Hong Kong, and the US between 1842 and 1943. She generously made the time to talk with me about it recently, it was such a pleasure, and you can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Eurasian: An Interview
I recently spoke with Eugene Raikhel and William Garriott about their new edited volume full of great essays that each look at the history and ethnography of addiction from a fresh and interesting perspective. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading Addiction Trajectories: An Interview
Marga Vicedo’s new book explores the emergence of the science of children’s emotional needs in the twentieth century, contextualizing the work of British psychoanalyst and psychiatrist John Bowlby (1907-1990) within a broader history of scientific studies of human and animal behavior. She was kind enough to talk with me about it, and you can find our conversation here. Continue reading The Nature and Nurture of Love: An Interview
I recently spoke with Nathaniel Comfort about his vibrant and thoughtful new book on the history of human genetics in the twentieth century. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading The Science of Human Perfection: An Interview
