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Italian Studies
International Horizons September 27, 2022

Is Italy Going Fascist Again?

What to Expect from Meloni with Andrea Mammone

Andrea Mammone

Hosted by International Horizons
Italy has just held an election in which it appears that a far-right candidate from a post Fascist Party has won, and his leader will become the next prime minister …

Italian Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Italy about their new books.

Writ Large September 16, 2022

On Giovanni Boccaccio’s "The Decameron"

A Discussion with Robert Pogue Harrison

Robert Pogue Harrison

Hosted by Zachary Davis
From roughly 1346 to 1353, Europe was paralyzed by the most fatal pandemic in recorded human history; the bubonic plague. The plague killed more than 60% of the total population …
Medieval History September 14, 2022

Empires of the Normans

Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia

Levi Roach

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia (Pegasus, 2022) by Dr. Levi Roach is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freebooters, of fortunes made and fortunes …
General History September 7, 2022

The Addis Ababa Massacre

Italy's National Shame

Ian Campbell

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In February 1937, following an abortive attack by a handful of insurgents on Mussolini's High Command in Italian-occupied Ethiopia, 'repression squads' of armed Blackshirts and Fascist civilians were unleashed on …
Intellectual History September 5, 2022

Elijah Del Medigo and Paduan Aristotelianism

Investigating the Human Intellect

Michael Engel

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Elijah Del Medigo (1458-1493) was a Jewish Aristotelian philosopher living in Padua, whose work influenced many of the leading philosophers of the early Renaissance. His Two Investigations on the Nature …
Food September 2, 2022

Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World

William Alexander

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The tomato gets no respect. Never has. Stored in the dustbin of history for centuries, accused of being vile and poisonous, appropriated as wartime propaganda, subjected to being picked hard-green …
Writ Large September 1, 2022

On Filippo Tomasso Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism"

A Discussion with Jeffrey Schnapp

Jeffrey Schnapp

Hosted by Zachary Davis
The Manifesto of Futurism was published in 1909, on the front page of Le Figaro, the oldest daily newspaper in France. Its author was Filippo Tomasso Marinetti, a 33-year-old Italian …
Military History September 1, 2022

Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War

The Supreme War Council and War Planning, 1917–1918

Meighen McCrae

Hosted by Alex Beckstrand
When the Germans requested an armistice in October 1918, it was a shock to the Allied political and military leadership. They had been expecting, and planning for, the war to …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones August 30, 2022

The Future of the European Union

A Discussion with Luuk van Middelaar

Luuk van Middelaar

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The Brexit debate has been so all-consuming and filled with so much misinformation that many Brits and others can overlook some the challenges facing the European Union itself. Looked at …
Ancient History August 29, 2022

The Life and Death of Ancient Cities

A Natural History

Greg Woolf

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The human race is on a 10,000 year urban adventure. Our ancestors wandered the planet or lived scattered in villages, yet by the end of this century almost all of …
Italian Studies August 29, 2022

Catholic Spectacle and Rome's Jews

Early Modern Conversion and Resistance

Emily Michelson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Starting in the sixteenth century, Jews in Rome were forced, every Saturday, to attend a hostile sermon aimed at their conversion. Harshly policed, they were made to march en masse …
General History August 22, 2022

Tuscany in the Age of Empire

Brian Brege

Hosted by Nathan Moore
A new history explores how one of Renaissance Italy's leading cities maintained its influence in an era of global exploration, trade, and empire. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was not …
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast August 17, 2022

Rome

Strategy of Empire

James Lacey

Hosted by Mark Klobas
From Octavian's victory at Actium (31 B.C.) to its traditional endpoint in the West (476), the Roman Empire lasted a solid 500 years -- an impressive number by any standard …
Middle Eastern Studies August 1, 2022

The Italian Empire and the Great War

Vanda Wilcox

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
The Italian Empire and the Great War (Oxford UP, 2021) by Vanda Wilcox brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy's decision for …
Religion July 28, 2022

The Origin of Sin

Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity

David Konstan

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
Where did the idea of sin arise from? In The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity (Bloomsbury, 2022), David Konstan takes a close look at classical …
Early Modern History July 18, 2022

Laughing Histories

From the Renaissance Man to the Woman of Wit

Joy Wiltenburg

Hosted by Elspeth Currie
Joy Wiltenburg's book Laughing Histories: From the Renaissance Man to the Woman of Wit (Routledge, 2022) breaks new ground by exploring moments of laughter in early modern Europe, showing how laughter was …
General History July 8, 2022

Petrarch

Everywhere a Wanderer

Christopher S. Celenza

Hosted by Jana Byars
Born in Tuscany in 1304, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Italian language. Though his writings inspired the humanist movement and subsequently …
On Religion June 28, 2022

On the Roman Catacombs

A Discussion with William Gruen

Willliam Gruen

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Ever wonder about the Roman catacombs? Look no further. Today I talked to William "Chip" Gruen of Muhlenberg College about his article "Roman Catacombs" from the collection The Reception of Jesus in the First …
Italian Studies June 23, 2022

Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda

A Political History of Italian Food TV

Francesco Buscemi

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The three protagonists of Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda: A Political History of Italian Food TV (Intellect, 2022) are food, television and politics. These are the three main characters that interrelate …
General History June 10, 2022

Dynasties Intertwined

The Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily

Matt King

Hosted by Luka Haeberle
Dynasties Intertwined: The Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily (Cornell UP, 2022) traces the turbulent relationship between the Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily during the …