NBN Book of the Day

Steve Feldstein's Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare (St. Martin's Press,
2026) opens with a juxtaposition: China spending vast sums to reach the
far side of the moon, and Ukraine using cheap drones to blunt a far
larger military. Both are stories about technology and power, but they
point in opposite directions.

In our conversation, Feldstein
argues that the outcome of technological competition is not
predetermined. Small states, non-state actors, and private companies
with the right engineers can now challenge much stronger adversaries. We
discuss Iran, whose military innovation grew out of decades of
sanctions rather than in spite of them, and why Western analysts
dismissed what was in plain sight. We then turn to China and Feldstein's
concern that the United States is making unforced errors, hollowing out
the basic research on which its edge depends.

Bytes and Bullets
resists both technological determinism and the claim that nothing has
changed. But this book is also candid about what cannot be predicted: as
machines take on decisions humans once made, who, if anyone, will set
the limits?

Our guest is Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program.

Our host is Eleonora Mattiacci, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Amherst College. She is the author of "Volatile States in International Politics" (Oxford University Press, 2023).
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In Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2024), Sandeep Vaheesan recounts the rather overlooked story of how electricity spread across the U.S. economy during the 20th century. This book sheds careful light on the varied institutions and interests mediating the process, including investor-owned utilities and the rural electric cooperative. Vaheesan does not hesitate to critique the successes and failures cropping up along the way; rather, he lays them all bare in service of paving an actionable path toward the decarbonization and democratization of power.

Sandeep Vaheesan is the legal director at the Open Markets Institute. He leads their legal research and advocacy, including the amicus program. He has written and spoken widely on antimonopoly law and policy and building a fair economy. Previously, he worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and American Antitrust Institute.

Anna Olteanu is a senior in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University, where she focuses on intellectual history. Her interests include political ecology, the history of economic thought, and literary criticism.
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Food justice is defined as the understanding that our food system is unequal and that something needs to be done about it. But how can we create a world where everyone has enough? What does it mean to truly nourish ourselves and our communities?

In Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness (Norton, 2026), anthropologist Ashanté M. Reese argues for a vibrant new vision of food justice that places Black communities at the center and offers us a visionary, delicious path forward. Reese reveals that to truly create equity in our food systems, we must embrace the abundance that already exists around us—and recognize that the social body is as important as our individual health

Gather presents rich, on-the-ground stories of gathering around food in four spaces—gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests. Blending rich storytelling with analysis, these chapters argue for the political power of food and invite us to learn from the tactics Black communities have long used to create sustainable, systemic change.

There are no simple solutions to the problems of acute need. But by recognizing that food justice is already all around us, we can start working together to create a more nourishing, joyful world. Gather is an intimate and urgent invitation to embrace local power, build better food systems, and nourish ourselves, body and soul.

Ashanté M. Reese is a writer, anthropologist, and associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Raised in Cooper Settlement, Texas, she lives in Austin and is involved in food justice movements nationwide.

Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Her book, Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism is forthcoming from Columbia University Press.
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Nineteenth-century
Germany invented the way we eat. Women experimenting in households,
French chefs fleeing guillotines, and one of the most rapidly evolving
food industries in the world forged recognizably modern eating practices
between 1780 and 1910. While central Europeans merely aimed to survive
long winters, experiment with translated recipes and curious ingredients
from abroad, and embrace the conveniences of industrial life, their
consumption habits and cooking practices created a new product
landscape. Throughout this transitional era of history, individuals
visibly communicated their self-understandings through food.

The Making of Modern Eating: How the German Middle Class Forged the Way We Eat, 1780–1910 (Berghahn,
2026) by Dr. Claudia Kreklau provides a study of central European food
modernity and middle-class identity aims to provide fresh footing for
discussions in our own changing global era.

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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A bold critique of conventional economics that reveals why the time
and money we devote to care work is vital to our economic future.

Our
economy is much bigger than the dollar value of things we buy and sell.
It depends on us—our health, our creativity, and our moral commitments.
These capabilities don't have price tags but are crucial to a
sustainable future. We need to acknowledge and reward the value of
caring for ourselves and others, especially our children, our elderly,
and those experiencing illness or disability.

From leading feminist economist Nancy Folbre, Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First (University
of California Press, 2026) provides a compelling historical and economic
account of care provision in the United States. Folbre traces the long
and colorful history of resistance to bogus claims that only paid work
"counts" and that employees in care services are always paid what they
deserve. Explaining why care providers remain economically vulnerable
today, she argues that more attention to the public benefits of care
provision could help build the political coalitions needed to implement
policies that put people first.

In this comprehensive and bold
book, Folbre upends conventional economic thinking and maps a hopeful
path toward a more equitable and sustainable economy.

Nancy
Folbre is Director of the Program on Gender and Care Work at the
Political Economy Research Institute and Professor Emerita of Economics
at UMass Amherst. She is the author of many books, including The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values.
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