German studies, one serious book at a time.
New Books in German Studies is built around careful interviews with scholars about newly published research. Its range runs from Berlin language learning and Dresden symbolism to military history, philosophy, football fan culture, antisemitism, and Nazism.
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New Books in German Studies is an academic interview show centered on recently published work about Germany and the German-speaking world. Its style is structured, careful, and book-led. Episodes usually begin with a formal introduction of the speaker and the research, then move into the intellectual problem the book is trying to solve. The result feels closer to an accessible graduate seminar than a magazine segment. Recent conversations cover a wide field. One episode follows antisemitism, Jewishness, European soccer, and fan cultures through Pavel Brunson's work. Another looks at older adults learning English in Berlin and the relationship between language learning and ageing. Military history appears through studies of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend and German-speaking peoples since 1500. Memory politics comes through Dresden, a city treated as architecture, air-war symbol, and political token. Philosophy enters through Schopenhauer. Religious and political history surface in discussion of Hitler's age, Bonhoeffer, postwar Christian authority, civil rights, anti-apartheid activism, and anti-Vietnam War protest. The show also reaches beyond Germany when German studies intersects with India and anti-colonialism. Its appeal is cumulative. Each episode starts with a narrow scholarly object, then patiently shows why that object matters. The questions are often historical, but they do not stay safely in the past. Violence, memory, institutions, language, ideology, and moral authority keep returning. The tone is serious without being theatrical. Listeners should expect names, dates, presses, methods, and arguments. They should also expect conversations that assume curiosity rather than prior expertise. For PlayNext, it is a strong fit for anyone who saves clips that make a book suddenly feel bigger than its title.
Made for: Best for readers, students, historians, and intellectually curious listeners who like scholarly interviews with clear introductions and patient argument. It especially suits people drawn to German history, memory politics, language, philosophy, religion, and war studies.
What sets it apart: The show narrows its lens to books and research, giving authors room to explain method, context, and stakes. Instead of quick commentary, it offers disciplined conversations where specialized scholarship becomes usable for serious general listeners.
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/german-studies
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Berlin's growing English presence lands differently for older adults who learned Russian in GDR schools.
Older adults learning English in Berlin is framed as a story about language changing the texture of everyday life. The central point stays clear and concrete: many older adults in Berlin, especially those from the former East and the GDR, learned Russian at school rather than…
A wartime reporting story about censorship, speed, and reporters racing to print.
The episode turns the book into a tight account of a reporter who ignored an order to hold back the surrender story and rushed it to print. Its strongest stretch follows the lucky 17 reporters flown back to Paris after the break, and that detail gives the material real momentum.
British history through power, women, and memory.
History as context, consequence, and conversation.
Berlin history, fast banter, sharp human detail.
This episode is a promotional announcement for the NewBooks Network's 2026 audience survey, referencing Julia Rensing's book 'Troubling Archives: History and Memory in Namibian Literature and Art' as part of their content.
This episode features an interview with Martin Jay about his book 'Immanent Critiques: The Frankfurt School under Pressure', discussing the Frankfurt School's critical theory and its contemporary relevance.
This episode features an interview with Ofer Ashkenazi about his book 'Still Lives: Jewish Photography in Nazi Germany', exploring how Jewish photographers documented life under Nazi rule.
This episode features an interview with historian Peter H.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
Hannah Torsch interviews Katerina Gench about her research on older adults learning English in Berlin.
This episode of New Books in Diplomatic History features Richard Fine discussing his book 'The Price of Truth' about Associated Press reporter Ed Kennedy.
Keith Rathbone interviews Pavel Brunssen about The Making of “Jew Clubs,” a 2025 Indiana University Press book on Jewishness, antisemitism, and European football fan cultures.
Hannah Torsch interviews Katerina Gench about older adults learning English in Berlin, drawing on Gench’s qualitative research with learners aged 55 to 87.
Boris Karpa interviews Royal Canadian Military College professor Arthur Goloksan about the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend during Normandy operations from 11 June to 12 July 1944.
Morteza Hajizadeh interviews David Bather Woods about Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy's Greatest Pessimist, a 2025 University of Chicago Press biography organized around gender, sexuality, death, suicide, solitude, punishment, and compassion.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
Historian Alec Ryrie argues that “The Age of Hitler” describes the period from 1945 to the present, when Adolf Hitler became a dominant moral reference point rather than simply the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945.