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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.NBN Episodes hosted by Jana:
April 8, 2026
The Burgeoning European Print Trade
Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof join Jana Byars to talk about their new book, The Burgeoning European Print Trade: The Distribution of Prints Via the Pl…
February 7, 2026
Patrimony and Law in Renaissance Italy
Thomas Kuehn, Professor Emeritus at Clemson University talks about his new book, Patrimony and Law in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2…
January 28, 2026
The Brothel and Beyond
Saundra Weddle joins fellow Venetianist Jana Byars to talk about her pathbreaking new release, The Brothel and Beyond: An Urban History of the Sex Tra…
January 21, 2026
Witchcraft Narratives in Germany
Alison Rowlands, professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Essex, joins Jana Byars to talk about her classic book, Witchcraft Na…
January 19, 2026
Hawking Women
Fantastic and informative talk with Sara Petrosillo of the University of Evansville about her new book, Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and Control i…
January 17, 2026
The Business of Pleasure
Elwin Hofman joins Jana Byars to talk about the volume he edited with Magaly Rodríguez García & Pieter Vanhees, The Business of Pleasure: A History of…
January 15, 2026
Sexual Politics in Revolutionary England
Samuel Fullerton joins Jana Byars to talk about Sexual Politics in Revolutionary England (Manchester UP 2024) to celebrate its paperback release. It r…
January 7, 2026
Postal Intelligence
Rachel Midura joins Jana Byars to talk about Postal Intelligence: The Tassis Family and Communications Revolution in Early Modern Europe (Cornell UP, …
January 6, 2026
Great Lake
Theodore Karamanski joins fellow Lake Michigan enthusiast Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Great Lake: An Unnatural History of Lake Michigan. Lo…
January 3, 2026
Enmity and Violence in Early Modern Europe
Stuart Carroll's Enmity and Violence in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2023) transforms our understanding of Europe between 1500 and…
December 15, 2025
Dürer's Coats
Jana Byars meets one of her academic heroes when Ulinka Rublack joins her to talk about Dürer's Coats: Renaissance Men and Material Cultures of Social…
December 4, 2025
Cannabis
Bradley Borougerdi joins Jana Byars to talk about Cannabis: A Global History (Reaktion, 2025). An international cultural history of the multifunctiona…
December 3, 2025
Objects of Poverty
Joseph Harley joins Jana Byars to talk about the book he edited with Vicky Holmes, Objects of Poverty: Material Culture in Britain from 1700 (Bloomsbu…
November 30, 2025
Early Modern Women's Work
Patricia Anne Simpson joins Jana Byars to talk about Early Modern Women's Work: Kinship, Community, and Social Justice (Routledge, 2025). The book exa…
November 28, 2025
The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe
Taylor McCall's The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe (Reaktion, 2023) is the first history of medieval European anatomical images. Richly illustrated…
November 27, 2025
Pregnancy Test
In the 1970s, the invention of the home pregnancy test changed what it means to be pregnant. For the first time, women could use a technology in the p…
November 21, 2025
Underground Mathematics
Thomas Morel joins Jana Byars to tell the story of subterranean geometry, a forgotten discipline that developed in the silver mines of early modern Eu…
November 7, 2025
Voices of Thunder
Naomi Bakes joins Jana Byars to talk about Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century (Reaktion Books, 2025), a book that e…
November 5, 2025
Trees Ancient and Modern
Charles Watkins joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Trees Ancient and Modern (Reaktion, 2025). This delightful new book explores the relation…
November 5, 2025
The Medieval Horse
Anastasija Ropa joins Jana Byars to talk about The Medieval Horse (Reaktion, 2025), a book that explores the role of horses across the medieval world,…
November 1, 2025
The Construction of Witchcraft in Early Modern Denmark, 1536-1617
Louise Nyholm Kallestrup joins Jana Byars to talk about her new book, The Construction of Witchcraft in Early Modern Denmark, 1536-1617 (Routledge, 20…
October 27, 2025
Luther and the Peasants
Kenneth G. Appold joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Luther and the Peasants: Religion, Ritual, and the Revolt of 1525 (Oxford UP, 2025). T…
October 5, 2025
The Making of a Reformation Man
David Whitford joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, The Making of a Reformation Man: Martin Luther and the Construction of Masculinity (Routle…
October 2, 2025
The Things She Carried
Kathleen Casey joins Jana Byars to talk about The Things She Carried: A Cultural History of the Purse in America (Oxford UP, 2025). Purses and bags ha…