New Books Network
Italian Studies
Art July 12, 2021

A History of Art History

Christopher Wood

Hosted by Allison Leigh
In this wide-ranging and authoritative book, the first of its kind in English, Christopher Wood tracks the evolution of the historical study of art from the late middle ages through …

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Italian Studies July 5, 2021

A Companion to Federico Fellini

Frank Burke, Marguerite Waller, Marita Gubareva

Hosted by Giancarlo Glombardi
Federico Fellini’s distinct style delighted generations of film viewers and inspired filmmakers and artists around the world. In Fellini’s Films and Commercials: From Postwar to Postmodern, renowned Fellini scholar Frank …
Anthropology June 15, 2021

Island of Hope

Migration and Solidarity in the Mediterranean

Megan A. Carney

Hosted by Fulya Pinar
With thousands of migrants attempting the perilous maritime journey from North Africa to Europe each year, transnational migration is a defining feature of social life in the Mediterranean today. On …
Anthropology June 9, 2021

The Inheritance

Elizabeth A. Povinelli

Hosted by Suvi Rautio
Elizabeth A. Povinelli’s inheritance was passed down not through blood or soil but through a framed map of Trentino, Alto Adige—the region where family's ancestral alpine village is found. Far …
Art June 8, 2021

Artemisia Gentileschi and Feminism in Early Modern Europe

Mary D. Garrard

Hosted by Allison Leigh
Artemisia Gentileschi is by far the most famous woman artist of the premodern era. Her art addressed issues that resonate today, such as sexual violence and women’s problematic relationship to …
Italian Studies May 31, 2021

Le norme traviate

Saggi sul genere e sulla sessualità nel cinema e nella televisione italiana

Sergio Rigoletto

Hosted by Ellen Nerenberg
What does it mean to “upend a norm,” which is the translation of the title of Sergio Rigoletto’s recent study “Upended norms: essays on gender and sexuality in Italian cinema …
Literature May 25, 2021

Conversation with Johnny

A Novel of Power and Sex

Anthony Valerio

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Back in 1997, when Anthony Valerio’s Conversation with Johnny was first published, the world hadn’t yet seen The Godfather, The Sopranos, or Goodfellas. In this slim volume, Valerio explores two …
General History May 25, 2021

Mussolini and the Eclipse of Italian Fascism

From Dictatorship to Populism

R. J. B. Bosworth

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
A new and incisive account of how Mussolini pioneered policies which we would not label ‘populism’ in reaction to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 —and thereby reinforced his role …
General History May 12, 2021

That Most Precious Merchandise

The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500

Hannah Barker

Hosted by Jonathan Megerian
Before the Transatlantic slave trade ravaged the western coast of Africa, immense numbers of persons were taken from their homes and carried across the Black and Mediterranean Seas as involuntary …
General History April 27, 2021

The Enlightenment

The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790

Ritchie Robertson

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 (Harper, 2021) is a magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit …
General History April 27, 2021

Strangling the Axis

The Fight for Control of the Mediterranean during the Second World War

Richard Hammond

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
In his new book, Strangling the Axis: The Fight for Control of the Mediterranean during the Second World War (Cambridge University Press, 2020) , Dr. Richard Hammond, Lecturer in War Studies …
General History April 14, 2021

Britain and Italy in the Era of the First World War

Defending and Forging Empires

Stefano Marcuzzi

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
This is a reassessment of British and Italian grand strategies during the First World War. Dr. Stefano Marcuzzi, Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, tries to shed new …
Philosophy April 9, 2021

Marcus Aurelius

John Sellars

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is one of the most popular philosophical works by sales to the public, while in academic philosophy he is considered somewhat of a philosophical lightweight. In Marcus …
Italian Studies April 7, 2021

Old Schools

Modernism, Education, and the Critique of Progress

Ramsey McGlazer

Hosted by Ellen Nerenberg
Ramsey McGlazer's Old Schools: Modernism, Education, and the Critique of Progress (Fordham University Press, 2020), traces the ways in which a group of modernist cultural practitioners (thinkers, politicians, artists, poets, novelists …
General History March 31, 2021

Roundtable on Medieval Conspiracy Theories

Michael D. Bailey, Miri Rubin, and Sean Field

Hosted by Jana Byars
Join us today for a roundtable conversation with three leading medieval scholars about the phenomenon of conspiracy theories in history.  Michael D. Bailey, professor of history at Iowa State University …
Communications March 17, 2021

How Media and Conflicts Make Migrants

Kirsten Forkert and Gargi Bhattacharyya

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
Has 'migrant' become an unshakeable identity for some people? How does this happen and what role does the media play in classifying individuals as 'migrants' rather than people? How Media …
Literary Studies March 9, 2021

Masculinity and Ancient Rome in the Victorian Cultural Imagination

Laura Eastlake

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans
Laura Eastlake’s Ancient Rome and Victorian Masculinity (Oxford University Press, 2019) examines Victorian receptions of ancient Rome from the French Revolution to the First World War, with a specific focus on how …
General History February 26, 2021

Ruling Culture

Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy

Fiona Greenland

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today we are joined by Fiona Greenland, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, to talk about her new book, Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Raiders, and the …
Italian Studies February 19, 2021

The Photoromance

A Feminist Reading of Popular Culture

Paola Bonifazio

Hosted by Nicoletta Marini-Maio
Paola Bonifazio’s The Photoromance. A Feminist Reading of Popular Culture (MIT Press, 2020) is the first feminist reading of photoromances that examines both its industry and its fandom, arguing for …
General History February 16, 2021

Forbidden Knowledge

Medicine, Science, and Censorship in Early Modern Italy

Hannah Marcus

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today we speak to Hannah Marcus, Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about her new monograph, Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science …