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About Stephen Bittner

Stephen V. Bittner is Special Topics Editor at Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History and Professor of History at Sonoma State University.

NBN Episodes hosted by Stephen:

History Ex Silo November 8, 2023

Writing the History of Money and Monetary Policy

A Conversation with Ekaterina Pravilova and Rebecca Spang

Ekaterina Pravilova and Rebecca Spang

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
What do the histories of currency and monetary policy tell us about societies at large, political structures, and cultures? Ekaterina Pravilova and Rebecca Spang tackle these questions, respectively, in two …
History Ex Silo October 21, 2023

The Family in History, History in the Family

National Identity in Nineteenth-century Kyiv and Immigration Politics in West Germany after 1955

Fabian Baumann and Lauren Stokes

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
In two new books, Fabian Baumann and Lauren Stokes examine the past through the lens of family structures and relations. In Dynasty Divided: A Family History of Russian and Ukrainian …
History Ex Silo August 14, 2023

Toward a More Expansive View of Medieval Europe

Kyivan Rus and Norman Salerno in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

Christian Raffensperger and Joanna Drell

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Listen:
Focusing on gender relations, family formation, and marriage patterns in areas peripheral to the England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, Christian Raffensperger and Joanna Drell argue for a more …
Russian and Eurasian Studies June 13, 2023

Socialist Cultures and Politics of Secularism and Atheism

A Discussion with Todd Weir and Victoria Smolkin

Todd Weir and Victoria Smolkin

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Listen:
Two new books on secularism and atheism in German and Soviet socialist cultures are reshaping scholarly understandings of the relationship between socialism and religion. Todd Weir and Victoria Smolkin show …
Russian and Eurasian Studies June 10, 2023

New Histories of Violence in and around the Second World War

A Discussion with Max Bergholz and Nicole Eaton

Max Bergholz and Nicole Eaton

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Listen:
Why does state-led and intercommunal violence occur? How do past episodes of mass violence reverberate in the present? How do victims and perpetrators make sense of each other in the …
History Ex Silo May 20, 2023

Empires after World War II: The Cases of the USSR and France

A Discussion with Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Where lay the fissures of Soviet power in Eastern Europe during the Cold War? Why did France fail in its postwar efforts to make its African colonies part of France …
Russian and Eurasian Studies February 28, 2023

Soviet Hippies and German “Other ‘68ers”

A Conversation about Youth Non-Conformity and Protest

Juliane Fürst and Anna von der Goltz

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
On first glance, Soviet hippies would seem to have little in common with right-wing student protestors in West Germany in 1968. Yet as Juliane Fürst and Anna von der Goltz …
Russian and Eurasian Studies February 21, 2023

Rethinking the End of the Russian and Habsburg Empires

A Discussion with Joshua Sanborn and Dominique Kirchner Reill

Joshua Sanborn and Dominique Kirchner Reill

Hosted by Stephen Bittner
Historians often think of World War I and the period surrounding it as the acme of nationalism in European politics. In two very different books, Joshua Sanborn and Dominique Kirchner …