About Jana Byars

Jana holds a PhD in history from Penn State University. She also attended Western Michigan University and Hope College. She is the author of Informal Marriages in Early Modern Venice (Routledge, 2018), the editor of Monsters and Borders in the Early Modern Imagination (Routledge, 2018), and the translator of Girolamo Benzoni’s 1565 travel narrative History of the New World (Penn State Press, 2017). She has also written several reviews and articles about sexuality and gender in Europe. She retired to Amsterdam after twenty years in American higher education, teaching at Iowa State, Whitman College, Marquette, Penn State, and Western Michigan. Her current research centers on the intersection of gender, sexuality, aging, and disability in early modern Europe. Jana is a native Michigander happily living in Amsterdam. She loves yoga, is learning to cycle fearlessly, and cherishes every moment she can spend with Alice, the world’s sweetest basset hound.
Independent Scholar based in Amsterdam

NBN Episodes hosted by Jana:

Lucian Staiano-Daniels, "The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

November 15, 2024

The War People

Lucian Staiano-Daniels
Hosted by Jana Byars

In The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War (Cambridge UP, 2024), Lucian Staino-Daniles uses the tra…

Vaughn Scribner, "Merpeople: A Human History" (Reaktion Books, 2020)

November 13, 2024

Merpeople

Vaughn Scribner
Hosted by Jana Byars

Vaughn Scribner joins Jana Byars on the occasion of the paperback edition of Merpeople: A Human History (Reaktion, 2024) People have been fascinated b…

Mary Lindemann and Deanna Shemek, "Redreaming the Renaissance: Essays on History and Literature in Honor of Guido Ruggiero" (U Delaware Press, 2024)

November 10, 2024

Redreaming the Renaissance

Mary Lindemann and Deanna Shemek
Hosted by Jana Byars

Redreaming the Renaissance: Essays on History and Literature in Honor Guido Ruggiero (University of Delaware Press, 2024) seeks to remedy the dearth o…

Filippo Gianferrari, "Dante's Education: Latin Schoolbooks and Vernacular Poetics" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 6, 2024

Dante's Education

Filippo Gianferrari
Hosted by Jana Byars

In fourteenth-century Italy, literacy became accessible to a significantly larger portion of the lay population (allegedly between 60 and 80 percent i…

Joanne Rosenthal, "Sex: Jewish Positions" (Hirmer Verlag, 2024)

November 4, 2024

Sex: Jewish Positions

Miriam Goldmann, Joanne Rosenthal, and Titia Zoeter
Hosted by Jana Byars

Freelance curator Joanne Rosenthal joins Jana Byars to talk about Sex: Jewish Positions (Hirmer, 2024) and its concomitant exhibition at the Jewish mu…

Alistaire Tallent, "Fictions of Pleasure: The Putain Memoirs of Prerevolutionary France" (U Delaware Press, 2023)

October 31, 2024

Fictions of Pleasure

Alistaire Tallent
Hosted by Jana Byars

Alistaire Tallent joins Jana Byars to talk about her new book, Fictions of Pleasure: The Putain Memoirs of Prerevolutionary France (University of Dela…

Sharon Kinoshita, "Marco Polo and His World" (Reaktion Books, 2024)

October 26, 2024

Marco Polo and His World

Sharon Kinoshita
Hosted by Jana Byars

Sharon Kinoshita talks with Jana Byars about her new book, Marco Polo and His World (Reaktion Press, 2024). A lavishly illustrated tour of the famed a…

Seth Kimmel, "The Librarian's Atlas: The Shape of Knowledge in Early Modern Spain" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

October 23, 2024

The Librarian's Atlas

Seth Kimmel
Hosted by Jana Byars

In The Librarian's Atlas: The Shape of Knowledge in Early Modern Spain (U Chicago Press, 2024) Seth Kimmel explores the material history of libraries …

Jeremy Chow and Shelby Johnson, "Unsettling Sexuality: Queer Horizons in the Long Eighteenth Century" (U Delaware Press, 2024)

October 19, 2024

Unsettling Sexuality

Jeremy Chow and Shelby Johnson
Hosted by Jana Byars

Jeremy Chow and Shelby Johnson set out, their new collection, Unsettling Sexuality: Queer Horizons in the Long Eighteenth Century (University of Delaw…

Serena Laiena, "The Theatre Couple in Early Modern Italy: Self-Fashioning and Mutual Marketing" (U Delaware Press, 2023)

October 5, 2024

The Theatre Couple in Early Modern Italy

Serena Laiena
Hosted by Jana Byars

Serena Laiena joins Jana Byars to talk about her new book, The Theater Couple in Early Modern Italy: Self-Fashioning and Mutual Marketing (University …

Annette Kehnel, "The Green Ages: Medieval Innovations in Sustainability" (Brandeis UP, 2024)

September 29, 2024

The Green Ages

Annette Kehnel
Hosted by Jana Byars

Annette Kehnel joins Jana Byars to talk about The Green Ages: Medieval Innovations in Sustainability (Brandeis University Press, 2024). A fascinating …

Charmian Mansell, "Female Servants in Early Modern England" (Oxford UP, 2024)

September 26, 2024

Female Servants in Early Modern England

Charmian Mansell
Hosted by Jana Byars

Charmian Mansell joins Jana Byars to talk about Female Servants in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2024). What was it like to be a wo…

Martha Rampton, "Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000" (Cornell UP, 2021)

September 9, 2024

Trafficking with Demons

Martha Rampton
Hosted by Jana Byars

Martha Rampton's book Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000 (Cornell University Press, 2021) explores how mag…

Aleksander Pluskowski, "The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation" (Reaktion, 2024)

August 30, 2024

The Teutonic Knights

Aleksander Pluskowski
Hosted by Jana Byars

Aleksander Pluskowski of the University of Reading joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, The Teutonic Knights: Rise and Fall of a Religious Cor…

Lesley Smith, "Fragments of a World: William of Auvergne and His Medieval Life" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

August 16, 2024

Fragments of a World

Lesley Smith
Hosted by Jana Byars

Lesley Smith of Oxford University joins Jana Byars to talk about her new book, Fragments of a World: William of Auvergne and His Medieval Life (Univer…

Katharine Sykes, "Symbolic Reproduction in Early Medieval England" (Oxford UP, 2024)

August 8, 2024

Symbolic Reproduction in Early Medieval England

Katharine Sykes
Hosted by Jana Byars

Katharine Sykes joins Jana Byars to talk about her new book, Symbolic Representation in Early Medieval England (Oxford University Press, 2024). In the…

Elizabeth Storr Cohen and Marlee J. Couling, "Non-Elite Women's Networks Across the Early Modern World" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

July 6, 2024

Non-Elite Women's Networks Across the Early Modern World

Elizabeth Storr Cohen and Marlee J. Couling
Hosted by Jana Byars

Elizabeth Cohen, Professor Emerita at York University, joins Jana Byars to talk about her new volume, Non-Elite Women's Networks Across the Early Mode…

Joseph A. Skloot, "First Impressions: Sefer Hasidim and Early Modern Hebrew Printing" (Brandeis UP, 2023)

June 8, 2024

First Impressions

Joseph A. Skloot
Hosted by Jana Byars

Joseph A. Skloot joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, First Impressions: Sefer hasimdim and Early Modern Hebrew Printing (Brandeis UP, 2023). …

Eleanor Medhurst, "Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion" (Hurst, 2024)

June 3, 2024

Unsuitable

Eleanor Medhurst
Hosted by Jana Byars

Eleanor Medhurst joins us today to talk about Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion (Hurst & Company, 2024). Clothes are integral to lesbian histor…

Matthew Kadane, "The Enlightenment and Original Sin" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

June 1, 2024

The Enlightenment and Original Sin

Matthew Kadane
Hosted by Jana Byars

Matthew Kadane, Professor of History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, talks about his just new book, The Enlightenment and Original Sin (Universi…

Adam Zientek, "A Thirst for Wine and War: The Intoxication of French Soldiers on the Western Front" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2024)

May 24, 2024

A Thirst for Wine and War

Adam Zientek
Hosted by Jana Byars

Adam Zientek, Assistant Professor of History at UC Davis joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, A Thirst for Wine and War: The Intoxication of F…

Lucy Barnhouse, "Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

May 7, 2024

Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland

Lucy Barnhouse
Hosted by Jana Byars

Lucy Barnhouse of Arkansas State University talks with Jana Byars about her new book, Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland: Houses …

Thor Rydin, "The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872-1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

April 17, 2024

The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872-1945)

Thor Rydin
Hosted by Jana Byars

Thor Rydin joins to talk about his new book, The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872- 1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse (Amsterdam UP,…

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, …