New Books Network
Italian Studies
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 14, 2022

Ravenna

Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Judith Herrin

Hosted by Mark Klobas
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here …

Italian Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Italy about their new books.

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 3, 2022

Western Europe’s Democratic Age

1945-1968

Martin Conway

Hosted by Mark Klobas
What happened in the years following World War II to create a democratic revolution in the western half of Europe? In Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945-1968 (Princeton UP, 2021), Martin …
Early Modern History December 24, 2021

The Dragoman Renaissance

Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism

E. Natalie Rothman

Hosted by Ian Hathaway
The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism (Cornell UP, 2021) is a fascinating study of a crucial early modern cadre of "go-betweens:" the Istanbul-based diplomatic translator-interpreters, known …
Architecture January 7, 2022

Architecture and the Senses in the Italian Renaissance

The Varieties of Architectural Experience

David Karmon

Hosted by Bryan Toepfer
Architecture and the Senses in the Italian Renaissance: The Varieties of Architectural Experience (Cambridge UP, 2021) is the first study of Renaissance architecture as an immersive, multisensory experience that combines …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast November 30, 2021

Herculaneum Uncovered

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill

Hosted by Howard Burton
Herculaneum Uncovered is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Director of Research and Honorary Professor of Roman Studies in the Faculty of Classics at …
General History November 17, 2021

To Kidnap a Pope

Napoleon and Pius VII

Ambrogio A. Caiani

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII shared a common goal: to reconcile the Catholic church with the French state …
Italian Studies November 16, 2021

Early Modern Aristotle

On the Making and Unmaking of Authority

Eva Del Soldato

Hosted by Gerry Milligan
Today we speak with Eva Del Soldato about her new book on how the authority of Aristotle was reinscribed and challenged during the early modern period. In his Nicomachean Ethics …
Language November 5, 2021

Editorial Bodies

Perfection and Rejection in Ancient Rhetoric and Poetics

Michele Kennerly

Hosted by Lee Pierce
Though typically considered oral cultures, ancient Greece and Rome also boasted textual cultures, enabled by efforts to perfect, publish, and preserve both new and old writing. In Editorial Bodies: Perfection and …
Biography November 2, 2021

Galeazzo Ciano

The Fascist Pretender

Tobias Hof

Hosted by Mark Klobas
He was the son of a prominent politician, Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law, and viewed by many as the Duce’s likely successor, only to die before a fascist firing squad near the …
Italian Studies October 11, 2021

Court and Its Critics

Anti-Court Sentiments in Early Modern Italy

Paola Ugolini

Hosted by Gerry Milligan
The fashionable and decorous men whom we recognize in portraits and letters from the Italian Renaissance penned some of the most scathing critiques of the courts in which they served …
General History September 15, 2021

A Fake Saint and the Real Church

The Story of a Forgery in Seventeenth-Century Naples

Stefania Tutino

Hosted by Jana Byars
Stefania Tutino, Professor and Peter Reill Chair in European History at UCLA talks about her new book, A Fake Saint and the True Church: the Story of a Forgery in …
German Studies August 24, 2021

Modernism in Trieste

The Habsburg Mediterranean and the Literary Invention of Europe, 1870-1945

Salvatore Pappalardo

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
When we think about the process of European unification, our conversations inevitably ponder questions of economic cooperation and international politics. Salvatore Pappalardo offers a new and engaging perspective, arguing that …
Jewish Studies August 10, 2021

Shadal on Leviticus

Samuel David Luzzatto's Interpretation of the Book of Vayikra

Samuel David Luzzatto

Hosted by Michael Morales
Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865), known by his Hebrew acronym Shadal, was the leading Italian Jewish scholar of the 19th century. A linguist, educator, and religious thinker, he devoted his talents …
Early Modern History August 5, 2021

Abortion in Early Modern Italy

John Christopoulos

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today we have John Christopoulos, Assistant Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, to talk about his new book, Abortion in Early Modern Italy (Harvard University Press, 2021) In …
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 …
Italian Studies July 5, 2021

A Companion to Federico Fellini

Frank Burke, Marguerite Waller, Marita Gubareva

Hosted by Giancarlo Lombardi
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 …