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.

Jana Byars is an independent scholar located in Amsterdam.

NBN Episodes hosted by Jana:

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, …

Tom Hamilton, "A Widow's Vengeance After the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France" (Oxford UP, 2024)

February 19, 2024

A Widow's Vengeance After the Wars of Religion

Tom Hamilton
Hosted by Jana Byars

Paris, 1599. At the end of the French Wars of Religion, the widow Renée Chevalier instigated the prosecution of the military captain Mathurin Delacanc…

Alison M. Downham Moore, "The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 14, 2024

The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing

Alison M. Downham Moore
Hosted by Jana Byars

In The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing (Oxford University Press, 2022), Alison Downham Moore discusses her cont…

Camillo Leonardi, "Speculum Lapidum: A Renaissance Treatise on the Healing Properties of Gemstones" (Penn State UP, 2023)

January 23, 2024

Speculum Lapidum

Camillo Leonardi
Hosted by Jana Byars

First published in Venice in 1502, Camillo Leonardi’s Speculum Lapidum is an encyclopedic summary of all classical and medieval sources of lithotherap…

Catherine Powell-Warren, "Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science: Agnes Block, Botany, and Networks in the Dutch 17th Century" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

January 22, 2024

Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science

Catherine Powell-Warren
Hosted by Jana Byars

Jana Byars speaks with Catherine Powell-Warren about Gender and Self-Fashioning at the Intersection of Art and Science: Agnes Block, Botany, and Netwo…

John Christopoulos, "Abortion in Early Modern Italy" (Harvard UP, 2021)

January 1, 2024

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 …

Timothy McCall, "Making the Renaissance Man: Masculinity in the Courts of Renaissance Italy" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

December 25, 2023

Making the Renaissance Man

Timothy McCall
Hosted by Jana Byars

Looking beyond the marble elegance of Michelangelo's David, the pugnacious, passionate, and--crucially--important story of Renaissance manhood. Timo…

Brian Jeffrey Maxson, "Early Modern Europe: Facts and Fictions" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

December 21, 2023

Early Modern Europe

Brian Jeffrey Maxson
Hosted by Jana Byars

Today I talked to Brian Maxson about his new book Early Modern Europe: Facts and Fictions (Bloomsbury, 2023). Through the exploration of nine common…

Kathy Stuart, "Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany: Crime, Sin and Salvation" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

December 13, 2023

Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany

Kathy Stuart
Hosted by Jana Byars

Suicide by Proxy became a major societal problem after 1650. Suicidal people committed capital crimes with the explicit goal of “earning” their execut…

Leonie Hannan, "A Culture of Curiosity: Science in the Eighteenth-Century Home" (Manchester UP, 2023)

October 30, 2023

A Culture of Curiosity

Leonie Hannan
Hosted by Jana Byars

Leonie Hannan's book Culture of Curiosity: Science in the Eighteenth Century Home (Manchester University Press, 2023) explores the practice of scienti…

Mariana-Cecilia Velazquez, "Cultural Representations of Piracy in England, Spain, and the Caribbean" (Routledge, 2023)

October 23, 2023

Cultural Representations of Piracy in England, Spain, and the Caribbean

Mariana-Cecilia Velazquez
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Mariana-Cecilia Velazquez's book Cultural Representations of Piracy in England, Spain, and the Caribbean: Travelers, Traders, and Traitors, 1570 to 16…

Shannon McHugh, "Petrarch and the Making of Gender in Renaissance Italy" (Amsterdam UP, 2022)

October 20, 2023

Petrarch and the Making of Gender in Renaissance Italy

Shannon McHugh
Hosted by Jana Byars

Shannon McHugh's book Petrarch and the Making of Gender in Renaissance Italy (Amsterdam University Press, 2023) is a new history of early modern gende…

A. Katie Harris, "The Stolen Bones of St. John of Matha: Forgery, Theft, and Sainthood in the Seventeenth Century" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2023)

October 16, 2023

The Stolen Bones of St. John of Matha

A. Katie Harris
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

On the night of March 18, 1655, two Spanish friars broke into a church to steal the bones of the founder of their religious institution, the Order of …

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill, "The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland" (Manchester UP, 2023)

October 9, 2023

The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Julian Goodare and Martha McGill's edited volume The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland (Manchester UP, 2023) is about other worlds and the superna…

Claudine Chavannes-Mazel and Linda Ijpelaar, "The Green Middle Ages: The Depiction and Use of Plants in the Western World 600-1600" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

October 2, 2023

The Green Middle Ages

Claudine Chavannes-Mazel and Linda Ijpelaar
Hosted by Jana Byars

How 'green' were people in late antiquity and the Middle Ages? Unlike today, the nature around them was approached with faith, trust and care. The pop…

Karen Weingarten, "Pregnancy Test" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

September 27, 2023

Pregnancy Test

Karen Weingarten
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

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…

Jessica Hendry Nelson, "Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief" (U Georgia Press, 2023)

September 25, 2023

Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief

Jessica Hendry Nelson
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Jessica Hendry Nelson, Joy Rides through the Tunnel of Grief (University of Georgia Press, 2023) is a compelling memoir in essays. When Nelson's fathe…

Aleksandra Nicole Pfau, "Medieval Communities and the Mad: Narratives of Crime and Mental Illness in Late Medieval France" (Amsterdam UP, 2020)

September 11, 2023

Medieval Communities and the Mad

Aleksandra Nicole Pfau
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

The concept of madness as a challenge to communities lies at the core of legal sources. Aleksandra Pfau, Medieval Communities and the Mad: Narratives …

Adam Jasienski, "Praying to Portraits: Audience, Identity, and the Inquisition in the Early Modern Hispanic World" (Penn State UP, 2023)

August 21, 2023

Praying to Portraits

Adam Jasienski
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Praying to Portraits: Audience, Identity, and Inquisition in the Early Modern Hispanic World (Penn State University Press, 2023), art historian Adam J…

Sara Beam, "Trial of Jeanne Catherine: Infanticide in Early Modern Geneva" (U Toronto Press, 2020)

August 14, 2023

Trial of Jeanne Catherine

Sara Beam
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

In 1686 in Geneva, a single mother named Jeanne Catherine Thomasset is charged with poisoning two young children: her own illegitimate daughter and th…

Aleksandra Nicole Pfau, "Medieval Communities and the Mad: Narratives of Crime and Mental Illness in Late Medieval France" (Amsterdam UP, 2020)

August 11, 2023

Medieval Communities and the Mad

Aleksandra Nicole Pfau
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

The concept of madness as a challenge to communities lies at the core of legal sources. Aleksandra Nicole Pfau's book Medieval Communities and the Mad…

Courtney Adams Wooten, "Childfree and Happy: Transforming the Rhetoric of Women's Reproductive Choices" (Utah State UP, 2023)

August 2, 2023

Childfree and Happy

Courtney Adams Wooten
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Childfree and Happy: Transforming the Rhetoric of Womens' Reproductive Choices (Utah State University Press, 2023) examines how millennia of reproduct…

Taylor McCall, "The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

August 1, 2023

The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe

Taylor McCall
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Taylor McCall's The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe (Reaktion, 2023) is the first history of medieval European anatomical images. Richly illustrated…

Heidi Hausse, "The Malleable Body: Surgeons, Artisans, and Amputees in Early Modern Germany" (Manchester UP, 2023)

July 21, 2023

The Malleable Body

Heidi Hausse
Hosted by Jana Byars
Listen:

Heidi Hausse's book The Malleable Body: Surgeons, Artisans, and Amputees in Early Modern Germany (Manchester University Press, 2023) uses amputation a…