{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Environmental Studies","slug":"new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644","podcast_index_feed_id":580644,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT4982261480","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/science-technology/environmental-studies/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/fd33bd66-ee6d-11e8-8e3e-93e6ce14a7dc/image/e5dc75adf8cdf02fb639d7831e4bb4a6.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":1246,"summary":"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/environmental-studies","last_synced_at":"2026-06-26T10:18:44.101627+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644"},"episode":{"title":"Robert Suits, \"The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants\" (Princeton UP, 2026)","slug":"robert-suits-the-hobo-a-history-of-america-s-first-climate-migrants-princeton-up-2026","published_at":"2026-06-16T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644/robert-suits-the-hobo-a-history-of-america-s-first-climate-migrants-princeton-up-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7384281409.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7384281409.mp3","summary":"From the mid-nineteenth century through the dust bowl years of the Great Depression, a new kind of migrant worker became a familiar sight in communities across America. The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants (Princeton UP, 2026) by Dr. Robert Suits traces the journeys of these homeless men and women, showing how hobo work was an adaptation to energy transitions and a harsh and unpredictable climate, and how the hobo played a central role in the histories of industrialization and westward expansion.Challenging common depictions of the hobo as a world-weary, bearded man in ragged clothes, Dr. Suits reveals how these wandering laborers were often fastidious and heartbreakingly young. Forever on the move due to economic hardship and climate disaster, they chased harvests and took seasonal jobs in industries like logging and mining. Too often they couldn’t find employment at all. Suits describes the difficult, dangerous, and highly unstable jobs they worked while shedding light on the hobo life and philosophy, from their techniques for stowing away on railroads to their unique blend of socialist, anarchist, and anti-work thought. He traces the emergence of the hobo to the advent of steam and the need for manual laborers in places where this new technology couldn’t reach and describes how a growing reliance on the internal combustion engine brought an end to hobo work.Drawing on oral histories, environmental data, and cutting-edge digital methods, The Hobo paints an unforgettable portrait of an eclectic group of wandering radicals, troublemakers, poets, and writers, demonstrating how their experiences upend some of our basic assumptions about how environments and technologies shape society. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focus…","meta_description":"From the mid-nineteenth century through the dust bowl years of the Great Depression, a new kind of migrant worker became a familiar sight in communities a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3500,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644/episodes/robert-suits-the-hobo-a-history-of-america-s-first-climate-migrants-princeton-up-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-environmental-studies-580644/robert-suits-the-hobo-a-history-of-america-s-first-climate-migrants-princeton-up-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}