New Books Network
Italian Studies
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 …

Italian Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Italy about their new books.

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 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 …
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 …
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 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 …