Early Modern History

Early Modern History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of early modern history about their new books.

Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof, "The Burgeoning European Print Trade: The Distribution of Prints Via the Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp" (Harvey Miller, 2025)

April 8, 2026

The Burgeoning European Print Trade

Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof
Hosted by Jana Byars

Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof join Jana Byars to talk about their new book, The Burgeoning European Print Trade: The Distribution of Prints Via the Pl…

Dominik Berrens, "Naming New Things and Concepts in Early Modern Science: The Case of Natural History" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

April 6, 2026

Naming New Things and Concepts in Early Modern Science

Dominik Berrens
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Naming new discoveries is central to science, and for centuries, Latin dominated this process. The resulting terminology still shapes modern science, …

Wout Saelens, "Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries" (Leuven UP, 2026)

April 4, 2026

Fossil Consumerism

Wout Saelens
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries (Leuven UP, 2026) by Dr. Wout Saelens explores how the homes o…

Allan Greer, "Canada in the Age of Rum" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2026)

March 31, 2026

Canada in the Age of Rum

Allan Greer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Awash in a sea of rum describes the years between the 1670s and the 1830s in the colonies that would later become Canada. Millions of litres of the su…

Gijs Kruijtzer, "Justifying Transgression:  Muslims, Christians, and the Law - 1200 to 1700" (de Gruyter, 2023)

March 25, 2026

Justifying Transgression

Gijs Kruijtzer
Hosted by Amanie Antar

How do people justify what others see as transgression? Taking that question to the Persian-Muslim and Latin-Christian worlds over the period 1200 to …

Claire Goldstein, "Sun King's Cosmos: Comets and the Cultural Imagination of Seventeenth-Century France" (Northwestern UP 2025)

March 24, 2026

In the Sun King's Cosmos

Claire Goldstein
Hosted by Gina Stamm

In the Sun King's Cosmos: Comets and the Cultural Imagination of Seventeenth-Century France (Northwestern University Press 2025) explores the relation…

Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and Adrian Masters, "The Radical Spanish Empire: How Paperwork Politics Remade the New World" (Harvard UP, 2026)

March 13, 2026

The Radical Spanish Empire

Hosted by Freddy Dominguez

The Radical Spanish Empire: How Paperwork Politics Remade the New World by Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and Adrian Masters (Harvard UP, 2026) is a groundb…

Jon Stobart, "Life in the Georgian Parsonage: Morals, Material Goods and the English Clergy" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

March 11, 2026

Life in the Georgian Parsonage

Jon Stobart
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

An innovative approach in the field of material culture and consumption studies, Life in the Georgian Parsonage: Morals, Material Goods and the Englis…

Michael Bycroft, "Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

March 11, 2026

Gems and the New Science

Michael Bycroft
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution (U Chicago Press, 2026), Dr. Michael Bycroft argues that gems were connect…

Reginald Jackson, "Textures of Mourning: Calligraphy, Mortality, and The Tale of Genji Scrolls" (U Michigan Press, 2018)

March 1, 2026

Textures of Mourning

Reginald Jackson
Hosted by Carla Nappi

Reginald Jackson’s inspiring new book takes a transdisciplinary approach to rethinking how we read, how we pay attention, and why that matters deeply …

Leah Astbury, "Making Babies in Early Modern England" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

February 26, 2026

Making Babies in Early Modern England

Leah Astbury
Hosted by Elspeth Currie

Leah Astbury's new book, Making Babies in Early Modern England (Cambridge UP, 2025), explores the ideals and realities that governed generation in …

Anna-Luna Post, "Galileo’s Fame: Science, Credibility, and Memory in the Seventeenth Century" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

February 25, 2026

Galileo's Fame

Anna-Luna Post
Hosted by Freddy Dominguez

From the beginning of Galileo’s career, well before the publication of the Sidereus Nuncius, his contemporaries took pains to shape his reputation and…

Jane Ohlmeyer, "Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Making Empire

Jane Ohlmeyer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Empire and imperial frameworks, policies, practices, and cultures have shaped the history of the world for the last two millennia. It is nation states…

Richard Schoch, "Shakespeare’s House: A Window onto his Life and Legacy" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Shakespeare’s House

Richard Schoch
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the wide realm of Shakespeare worship, the house in Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare was born in 1564 – known colloquially as the 'Bir…

Mélanie Lamotte, "By Flesh and Toil: How Sex, Race, and Labor Shaped the Early French Empire" (Harvard UP, 2026)

February 18, 2026

By Flesh and Toil

Mélanie Lamotte
Hosted by Lewis Wade

From the beginning of the seventeenth century, French colonies and trading posts sprawled across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In the first pan-impe…

Sara Pennell & Jon Stobart, "Auctions and the Consumption of Second-Hand Goods in Georgian England" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

February 17, 2026

Auctions and the Consumption of Second-Hand Goods in Georgian England

Sara Pennell and Jon Stobart
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Auctions and the Consumption of Second-Hand Goods in Georgian England (Bloomsbury, 2026) by Dr. Sara Pennell & Professor Jon Stobart provides the firs…

Shelley Puhak, "The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

February 17, 2026

The Blood Countess

Shelley Puhak
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

There have long been whispers, coming from the castle; from the village square; from the dark woods. The great lady-a countess, from one of Europe's o…

Lynneth Miller Renberg, "Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith" (Boydell & Brewer, 2022)

February 14, 2026

Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640

Lynneth Miller Renberg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith (Boydell & Brewer, 2022) Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg presents…

Elaine M. Fisher, "The Meeting of Rivers: Translating Religion in Early Modern India" (Oxford UP, 2025)

February 12, 2026

The Meeting of Rivers

Elaine M. Fisher
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In The Meeting of Rivers: Translating Religion in Early Modern India (Oxford UP, 2025), Elaine Fisher reconstructs Vīraśaiva origins from unstudied mu…

Marc Mierowsky, "A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe's Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence" (Yale UP, 2026)

February 10, 2026

A Spy Amongst Us

Marc Mierowsky
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1706, Edinburgh was on the brink of a popular uprising. Men and women took to the streets to protest the planned union with England, fearing the en…