New Books in Critical Theory

A woman miscarries—and is charged with murder. A new mother tests
positive for a drug her hospital administered—and loses custody of her
newborn. Four women are convicted of horrific crimes against children
they never touched, based on junk science and homophobia—and spend
nearly twenty years in prison before being exonerated. A queer teenager
takes a photo of a child’s diaper rash at work—and is sentenced to 126
years. These cases are not aberrations. They are symptoms of a system
that punishes women and queer people not for what they have done, but
for who they are.

In the United States, nearly three-quarters of all wrongly convicted
women were convicted of crimes that never occurred at all. In Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity
(New Press, 2026), Dr. Valena Beety, co-founder of the Indiana Innocence
Project and award-winning legal scholar cited by Justice Sonia
Sotomayor, reveals how ordinary tragedies—a child’s sudden death, a
husband who dies in his sleep—are transformed by prosecutors into
murders that never happened. These “no crime” convictions
disproportionately target women and queer people, whose identities are
recast as evidence of guilt through bias, junk science, and entrenched
stereotypes.

Drawing on devastating real-life cases, Dr. Beety
exposes how prosecutorial overreach, flawed forensic science, and
cultural panic converge—and how fetal personhood laws, the fall of Roe
v. Wade, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation have dramatically expanded the
reach of criminal law. What emerges is a chilling portrait of a legal
system that increasingly criminalizes pregnancy outcomes, motherhood,
and queer identity itself.

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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The opening of Iraq's Ba'th
Party archives revolutionized the study of Iraqi politics and history,
offering scholars unprecedented access to the inner workings of one of
the world's most impenetrable autocracies. Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives: Reflections, Explorations, and Opportunities (Stanford University Press, 2026) edited by Dr. Lisa Blaydes
and Dr. Samuel Helfont brings together leading scholars to take stock
of what we have learned from over a decade of research using the Ba'thist
archives, contributing to a new understanding of Iraq's history, with
wider implications for understanding authoritarianism in general.

The
contributors show how research in these unique archives challenges
previous assumptions about Ba'thist Iraq and the workings of
authoritarian regimes. Their chapters provide
fresh insights into how Saddam Hussein's regime functioned both at the
elite level and through everyday bureaucratic practices, shedding light
on state power, social relations, and international politics of the
Middle East. The volume also critically reflects on the ethical
questions posed by the archives, including their origins, the impact of
their removal from Iraq, and access barriers for local scholars. Rich in
empirical detail yet framed by cutting-edge theoretical questions, this
book demonstrates
how the Iraqi archives have reshaped debates about authoritarianism,
governance, repression, and state-society relations well beyond the
Iraqi case.

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. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

How is finance changing in the contemporary world? In FinTech Capital: The Digital Transformation of Everyday Money and Finance (Princeton University Press, 2026), Paul Langley, a Professor of Economic Geography at Durham Universityand Andrew Leyshon, a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Economy, Policy and Place, Nottingham Trent University and Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Nottingham,
chart the rise of a new form of capitalism in the digital age. Drawing
on detailed case studies from across the world, from familiar everyday
examples such as Klarna to continent-spanning institutions such as Standard Bank,
the book theorises the dynamics of this new moment in global
capitalism. Of interest across the social sciences, the book will be
essential reading for anyone seeking to understand money today.
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Just how much damage is sport doing to the planet? In Global Sports Go Green—Or Do They? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026) Toby Miller, Profesor Distinguido at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico and Joan Pedro Carañana, Associate Professor of Journalism at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
examine the ecological impact of major sporting events. Using case
studies of The World Cup, The Olympics, The America’s Cup and Formula
One, the book demonstrates the vast range of economic, social, cultural
and climate impacts of these mega-events. Offering a wide ranging and
compelling critique, along with consideration of resistance to carbon
sports, the book is essential reading for everyone with interested in
whether global sporting spectacles can really be sustainable.
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Self-Sabotage: How We Try Not to Flourish (Polity Press, 2026) contends
that an unconscious impulse to undermine our own interests plays a
dominant role in our lives. The idea of a primary drive to
self-destruction is at odds with the prevailing common sense in a world
where almost everyone believes that we strive to flourish. Yet often we
fail to flourish not because some people are wicked but because the
drive to sabotage ourselves outweighs the pleasures of flourishing. Our
tendency to self-sabotage distorts our politics, throws off our romantic
relationships, and generally makes human existence difficult. It is why
we become involved with partners who continually create unhappiness for
us, and also why we elect leaders who derail the nation. Although the
act of self-sabotage is clearly self-destructive, it appeals to us
because it has a creative power. Through sacrificing ourselves, we
create sublime value in the world. Our willingness to sacrifice our own
interest elevates the value of the object we pursue and lifts it out of
the realm of the ordinary. Self-sabotage leads to immense amounts of
social harm. But at the same time, the tendency to self-destruction
provides the basis for our ability to act ethically and surmount social
pressure in the name of some higher value.

Todd McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of Embracing Alienation, The Racist Fantasy, Emancipation After Hegel, Capitalism and Desire, and Only a Joke Can Save Us, among other books. He is also the co-host of the Why Theory podcast with Ryan Engley.

Helena Vissing,
PsyD, SEP, PMH-C is a Licensed Psychologist practicing in California
and Associate Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies. She
can be reached at contact@helenavissing.com. She is the author of Somatic Maternal Healing: Psychodynamic and Somatic Treatment of Trauma in the Perinatal Period (Routledge, 2023).
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