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The new and improved New Books Network website is finally here. We know that most of you listen via Apple Podcasts or Spotify, but we’ve always felt that the apps alone don’t do the whole NBN catalogue justice. Today, there are almost 23,000 episodes in our library, with only a fraction available on the podcast apps. By using the website, you can see what’s new across all of our podcasts and find the exact episode you’re looking for with search.
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Scholarly Sources
Tayo Agunbiade is a social historian and author with a 35-year+ background in journalism. Her research specializes in women’s history in former British West African colonies.
Listen to Tayo discuss her new book, Untold Histories of Nigerian Women: Emerging from the Margins.
Q: What are you reading right now?
A: I just finished reading the World’s War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire by David Olusoga, and now I am reading 117 Days by Ruth First. It is an account of her imprisonment in Apartheid South Africa in 1963.
Q: What is your favorite book or essay to assign to give to people and why?
A: Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid by Alan Wieder is one of my favorite books, and I would assign it to people to read to learn about the life of the activist Ruth First, her dynamism, conviction and fearlessness in the fight for freedom in South Africa. Unfortunately, she did not live to see her vision for freedom become a reality, because she was assassinated in 1982.
Q: Is there a book you read as a student that had a particularly profound impact on your trajectory as a scholar?
A: The books I read in my younger years that had a particular profound impact on me were Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective edited by Bolanle Awe and Martin Meredith’s The State of Africa: A History of Africa of Fifty Years of Independence. They shaped my thinking about writing history books.
Q: Which deceased writer would you most like to meet and why?
A: I would have loved to meet Cynthia Cockburn because as a young student of Women Development Studies, her works were on the reading list, and I was struck by her in-depth research and thoughts about the interaction between gender and technology. Her books influenced my dissertation.
Q: What's the best book you've read in the past year?
A: The best book I read in the past year is Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Queen Victoria’s African Princess by John Van Der Kiste. It provides a historical account of the life of Sarah which I think is important for people to know about.
Q: Have you seen any films, documentaries, or museum exhibitions that left an impression on you recently?
A: The film, Chevalier about the 18th century musician and composer Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, left an impact on me. It showed me the importance of uncovering forgotten histories from the archives.
A documentary that left an impression on me was the French Revolution: A history of France: 1789 by Richard Clay. It journeys through the revolution via the destruction of art, buildings, and symbols.
Q: What do you plan on reading next?
A: I have bought and plan to read Women of the Raj by Margaret Macmillan.