New Books Network

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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Casting War As Love: Russian Colonialism in Familial Terms
(Palgrave Macillan, 2026) by Dr. Galina Bogatova unpacks the hidden
imperial logic behind Russia’s dominance over its neighbors,
revealing how the Kremlin weaponizes "familial system" myths to justify
control, including its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From the Tsarist
empire to Putin’s digital propaganda, Dr. Bogatova examines how Russia
portrays itself as a disciplining “father,” a self-sacrificing “mother,”
or an “elder brother” to post-Soviet states, protecting, subjugating,
and manipulating them in the name of unity. 

Blending
psychology, discourse analysis, and historical inquiry, this
groundbreaking book exposes how language sanitizes oppression,
legitimizes conquest, and sustains imperial ambitions. A
thought-provoking exploration of power, ideology, and resistance, it
offers a fresh perspective on Russia’s enduring influence over its
former empire.

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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Make Your Brain Work By Amy Brann Neuroscience expert, author, consultant and global speaker

Make Your Brain Work: Perform at a Higher Level (Kogan Page, 2025) is a practical, science-backed guide to improving focus, performance
and mental energy without burning out. Written for people balancing
multiple responsibilities, the book explains how to stay productive,
mentally sharp and in control, even when demands and pressure are high.

The
book also explores the neuroscience of smarter leadership,
high-performing teams and innovation. Brann examines working memory,
what the mind needs to achieve goals and how to help the brain perform
at an optimal level.

Drawing from current neuroscience, Amy Brann translates complex research about the brain into clear
strategies readers can apply in everyday work and life. She explores
why attention fades, distractions take over and decision-making becomes
more difficult when the brain is tired or under stress.

The
book emphasizes that high performance is not simply about pushing
harder. It is about understanding what the brain needs to function well
and creating habits that support focus, creativity, resilience, clear thinking and sustainable success. 

Key Ideas:

The brain performs best when its limited attention and energy are managed intentionally.

Understanding working memory can help us process information, solve problems and pursue goals more effectively.

Mental
rehearsal can activate neurons and strengthen neural circuits even when
an action is only imagined. For example, imagining your finger
contracting can prepare your brain and muscles to perform the movement
more effectively.

Neuroscience can help leaders make smarter decisions and create the conditions for high-performing teams.

Brain-aware leadership can encourage collaboration, creativity, innovation and meaningful change.

Mental fatigue can weaken focus, self-control and the quality of our decisions.

Working
with the brain, rather than continually forcing it beyond its limits,
can support greater success while helping to prevent burnout.

Key Takeaway from the Conversation:

One of the strongest ideas from the conversation is recognizing that
our brain can help us become smarter leaders, more creative thinkers and
stronger performers. Brann’s insights about working memory and
high-performing teams show that success is not only about effort. If you
read the book, you’ll learn how to think clearly, innovate, collaborate
and achieve meaningful goals.

Brann does not focus only on
managing fatigue or avoiding burnout. She also demonstrates how
understanding the brain can help people lead more effectively, develop
innovative ideas, make smarter choices and perform at a higher level. 

About Podcast Host

Angela Marie Hutchinson is the author of “Create Your Yes! When You
Keep Hearing No,” named a Forbes No. 4 book to advance your career. She
is a podcast host for New Books Network, where she leads conversations
for the neuroscience and Christianity channels. Hutchinson is also a
talent and intellectual property executive, former social media
professor and BBC commentator. She resides in Los Angeles with her
husband and three children.
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Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia
(Cornell University Press, 2026) uncovers colonial South Asia's
critical role in the development of forensic science. Around 1900, the
government of British India created a web of institutions for the
scientific detection of crime. Driven by anxieties about "native
mendacity," newly minted forensic analysts focused on uncovering faked
evidence planted by South Asians. These experts, joining toxicologists
known as "chemical examiners," were supposed to extract objective,
scientific truth in the service of British justice. But in trying to
counteract the presumed tendency of colonized peoples to lie, the system
enabled widespread misconduct by state experts, increasing the risk of
wrongful convictions of South Asian defendants. Through scrupulously
documented legal cases, Mitra Sharafi reveals that colonial dynamics put
special pressure on the relationship between truth and justice.
Examining falsity on both sides of the law through the use of testing to
(mis)identify poisons, blood, and spermatozoa, as well as debates over
adversarialism and inquisitorialism in the colonial courtroom, Fear of
the False explores advances in forensic science and shortcuts in
criminal procedure against the backdrop of colonial mistrust. Thanks
to generous funding from the University of Wisconsin Law School, the
ebook editions of this book are available as open access volumes through
the Cornell Open initiative.

Mitra Sharafi
is a legal historian whose research focuses on South Asia. She is the
Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law at University of Wisconsin-Madison and
currently serves as the president of the American Society for Legal
History. She has been the host of the South Asian Legal History Resources website since 2010.

Saumya Dadoo is a PhD candidate at Columbia University's Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS).
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The United States’ superpower status is often associated with its industrial, financial, and military might. Yet its global power after the Second World War hinged in part on something often seen as backward: agriculture. In contrast to Britain, the predominant global power of the nineteenth century, which depended on its current and former colonies for food and raw materials, the United States produced vast agricultural surpluses. During the 1950s, an era of decolonization and rising Cold War competition, the United States became the dominant exporter of food staples to industrializing nations in the Third World through its massive food aid program.

Through the lens of food and agriculture, Agrarian Superpower: Food, Development, and the Global Ascendancy of the United States (Columbia University Press, 2026) by Dr. Samantha Iyer offers new ways to understand the roots of the post–Second World War global order and the US position in it. Samantha Iyer traces how two former British territories and agricultural competitors of the United States, India and Egypt, became two of the largest importers of US food aid. She investigates the origins and consequences of the US-centric postwar food regime by examining changes in the production, distribution, and consumption of agricultural surpluses from the late nineteenth century to the early 1970s. Bringing together life in villages, towns, and cities with national, imperial, and international affairs, Dr. Iyer demonstrates that food aid was the expression of a changed political, economic, and ecological world that the United States did not create alone. Drawing on sources in Arabic, French, Urdu, and English, Agrarian Superpower is a groundbreaking comparative history of food, agriculture, and development.

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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