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New Books in Biography & Memoir

New Books in Biography & Memoir

By: Marshall Poe
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 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: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biographyNew Books Network Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Cindy Schweich Handler, "A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany" (McFarland, 2025)

    Cindy Schweich Handler, "A German Jew's Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany" (McFarland, 2025)
    Feb 16 2026
    Cindy Schweich Handler’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Redbook, The Huffington Post, and a host of other national publications. She is a former editor and writer for the USA Today Network. A German Jew’s Triumph: Fritz Oppenheimer and the Denazification of Germany (McFarland, 2025) is based on primary sources such as Fritz’s contemporaneous World War I diaries, journals kept by his wife, Elsbeth, and a copious collection of letters he wrote to her during their long separations. After 9/11, Harry Handler decided to explore this inheritance to see whether he could learn more about his grandfather’s life. A towering personality packed into a 5'3" frame, Oppenheimer was a wealthy Jewish Berliner who fled the Third Reich in mid-1938, joined basic training in the U.S. Army at forty-five, and ultimately became General Eisenhower’s legal aide and translator—tasked with helping to build a sustainable postwar democracy in his former homeland. This historical biography presents a previously untold David-and-Goliath story, demonstrating how one individual’s persistence can help change the course of history and forge a more hopeful future. A German Jew’s Triumph portrays Fritz Oppenheimer as a figure of extraordinary skill, moral complexity, and intellectual discipline. Cindy Schweich Handler preserves his voice, his diaries, and the historical record while also inviting readers to grapple with the discomforts of assimilation, restraint, and ethical judgment under extreme circumstances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
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    58 mins
  • Ian Gittins, "The Cure: A Perfect Dream" (Gemini Books, 2025)

    Ian Gittins, "The Cure: A Perfect Dream" (Gemini Books, 2025)
    Feb 12 2026
    The story of The Cure: a tall tale of a truly unique British band. The Cure's story is a fantastical pop fable, but their trajectory has not been one of unbroken success. Along the way, their uneven, uneasy pop odyssey has taken in fierce intra-band tensions and fall-outs, numerous line-up changes and even a bitter court case that saw original group members feuding over payments and ownership of the band's name. There has been alcoholism, substance abuse and countless long, dark nights of the soul, many of which have been translated into luscious dark-rock symphonies. From gawky teenage art-punks in Crawley to gnomic, venerable rock royalty with 30 million record sales to their name, their journey has been a scarcely believable, vivid pop hallucination. The Cure: A Perfect Dream (Gemini Books, 2025) is the tall tale of a truly unique British band. It's the story of The Cure. This fully updated edition includes a deep dive into the band's long-awaited 14th studio album released in 2024: Songs of a Lost World. Ian Gittins has interviewed and reviewed The Cure during a 30-year career as a music writer on titles such as Melody Maker, Time Out, Q and the Guardian. He is the co-author with Motley Crew's Nikki Sixx of the 2007 New York Times best-seller The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. He lives in London. Ian Gittin’s website. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America (Backbeat Books, 2021), Frank Zappa's America (LSU Press, 2025), and U2: Until the End of the World (Gemini Books, 2025). He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM and is the director of its music film festival. Bradley on Facebook and Bluesky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
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    36 mins
  • Karen Bermann, "The Art of Being a Stranger: A Family Memoir" (New Jewish Press, 2025)

    Karen Bermann, "The Art of Being a Stranger: A Family Memoir" (New Jewish Press, 2025)
    Feb 11 2026
    Karen Bermann grew up in the mad orbit of her father, Fritz, the rebellious child of a Viennese Orthodox Jewish family who fled Europe alone as an adolescent in the late 1930s. An irreverent, comic, rageful man with three names, who spoke three languages, lived on three continents, and always kept his papers in order, Fritz lived a life shaped by survival. In this memoir, told in alternating voices in brief, lyrical episodes, Bermann explores not only the mystery of her father but also the inheritance he passed on: intergenerational trauma, fragile familial bonds, and a fraught sense of belonging. The Art of Being a Stranger: A Family Memoir (New Jewish Press, 2025) is a darkly funny narrative told in poetry, prose, and mixed-media drawings. While her father taught her how to save herself, Bermann realized early on that what she truly needed was to be saved from him. Set against the backdrop of 1960s and 1970s New York City, The Art of Being a Stranger is a poignant comic-drama that offers an intimate, layered exploration of parents and children in the shadow of history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
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    28 mins
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