Early Modern History

Early Modern History

episodes

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

David Veevers, "The Great Defiance: How the World Took on the British Empire" (Ebury Press, 2023)

March 28, 2024

The Great Defiance

David Veevers
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

It’s very easy to study the history of the British Empire from the perspective of, well, the British–and to extend the early 20th century version of t…

Sanjay Subrahmanyam, "Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440-1640" (U Texas Press, 2024)

March 26, 2024

Across the Green Sea

Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440-1640 (University of Texas Press, 2024) by Dr. Sanjay Subrahmanyam presents a histo…

William Bain, "Political Theology of International Order" (Oxford UP, 2020)

March 26, 2024

Political Theology of International Order

William Bain

Is contemporary international order truly a secular arrangement? Theorists of international relations typically adhere to a narrative that portrays th…

John William Nelson, "Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent" (UNC Press, 2023)

March 23, 2024

Muddy Ground

John William Nelson
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The birchbark canoe is among the most remarkable Indigenous technologies in North America, facilitating mobility throughout the watery world of the Gr…

Thomas D. Conlan, "Kings in All But Name: The Lost History of Ouchi Rule in Japan, 1350-1569" (Oxford UP, 2024)

March 17, 2024

Kings in All But Name

Thomas D. Conlan
Hosted by Jingyi Li

In the sixteenth century, members of the Ouchi family were kings in all but name in much of Japan. Immensely wealthy, they controlled sea lanes stretc…

Victoria Perry, "A Bittersweet Heritage: Slavery, Architecture and the British Landscape" (Hurst, 2022)

March 14, 2024

A Bittersweet Heritage

Victoria Perry
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

The 2020 toppling of slave-trader Edward Colston's statue by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol was a dramatic reminder of Britain's role in tra…

Legal Cultures in the Russian Empire

March 13, 2024

Legal Cultures in the Russian Empire

Nancy Kollmann and Paolo Sartori
Hosted by Erika Monahan

Law. How does the state form and use it? How do people use and shape it? How does law shape culture? How does the practice of law change over time in …

Surya Parekh, "Black Enlightenment" (Duke UP, 2023)

March 12, 2024

Black Enlightenment

Surya Parekh
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

In Black Enlightenment (Duke UP, 2023), Surya Parekh reimagines the Enlightenment from the position of the Black subject. Parekh examines the works of…

Sean M. Kelley, "American Slavers: Merchants, Mariners, and the Transatlantic Commerce in Captives, 1644-1865" (Yale UP, 2023)

March 10, 2024

American Slavers

Sean M. Kelley
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

A total of 305,000 enslaved Africans arrived in the New World aboard American vessels over a span of two hundred years as American merchants and marin…

Jeremy Black, "The Age of Nightmare: The Gothic and British Culture, 1750-1900" (St. Augustine's Press, 2022)

March 9, 2024

The Age of Nightmare

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Historian Jeremy Black is comprehensive, as ever, but in his treatment of the British Gothic novel his greatest service is the preservation of the det…

Joanna Crosby, "Apples and Orchards Since the Eighteenth Century: Material Innovation and Cultural Tradition" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 5, 2024

Apples and Orchards Since the Eighteenth Century

Joanna Crosby
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Showing how the history of the apple goes far beyond the orchard and into the social, cultural and technological developments of Britain and the USA, …

Diego Javier Luis, "The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History" (Harvard UP, 2024)

March 5, 2024

The First Asians in the Americas

Diego Javier Luis
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between 1565 and 1815, the so-called Manila galleons enjoyed a near-complete monopoly on transpacific trade between Spain’s Asian and American colonie…

Roseen Giles, "Monteverdi and the Marvellous: Poetry, Sound, and Representation" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 4, 2024

Monteverdi and the Marvellous

Roseen Giles
Hosted by Kate Driscoll

The marvellous, a key concept in literary debates at the turn of the seventeenth century, involved sensory and perspectival transformation, a rhetoric…

Cristina Brito, "Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

March 4, 2024

Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa

Cristina Brito
Hosted by Jana Byars

Cristina Brito's book Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) deals with peoples' practices, …

Jennifer Evans, "Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England

Jennifer Evans
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

How did men cope with sexual health issues in early modern England? In Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England (Amsterdam University Press, 2023),…

Fynn Holm, "The Gods of the Sea: Whales and Coastal Communities in Northeast Japan, c.1600-2019" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

February 29, 2024

The Gods of the Sea

Fynn Holm
Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Japan is often imagined as a nation with a long history of whaling. In The Gods of the Sea: Whales and Coastal Communities in Northeast Japan, c.1600-…

Christian R. Burset, "An Empire of Laws: Legal Pluralism in British Colonial Policy" (Yale UP, 2023)

February 29, 2024

An Empire of Laws

Christian R. Burset
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In An Empire of Laws: Legal Pluralism in British Colonial Policy (Yale University Press, 2023), Dr. Christian R. Burset presents a compelling reexamin…

Stanley Wells, "What Was Shakespeare Really Like?" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

February 26, 2024

What Was Shakespeare Really Like?

Stanley Wells

Sir Stanley Wells is one of the world's greatest authorities on William Shakespeare. Here he brings a lifetime of learning and reflection to bear on s…

Till Van Rahden, "Multiplicity: Jewish History and the Ambivalences of Universalism" (Hamburger Edition, 2022)

February 24, 2024

Multiplicity

Till Van Rahden
Hosted by Paul Lerner

Since the Enlightenment, the question has arisen as to how it is possible to think of the “unity of the human race” as a multiplicity. How can the pro…

Michael Johnston, "The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 24, 2024

The Middle English Book

Michael Johnston

Michael Johnston's The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500 (Oxford UP, 2023) addresses a series of questions about the copying and cir…