New Books in Western European Studies
Episodes
Huw J. Davies, "The Wandering Army: The Campaigns That Transformed the British Way of War" (Yale UP, 2022)
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Wandering Army: The Campaigns that Transformed the British Way of War (Yale University Press, 2022), Dr. Huw J. Davies presents a compelling ...
Nathanael Aschenbrenner and Jake Ransohoff, "The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe" (Dumbarton Oaks, 2021)
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A gulf of centuries separates the Byzantine Empire from the academic field of Byzantine studies. The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe o...
On Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy"
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When he was in his late 30s, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri got himself into some serious political trouble and was exiled from his beloved Florence...
Trevor Jackson, "Impunity and Capitalism: The Afterlives of European Financial Crises, 1690-1830" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Whose fault are financial crises, and who is responsible for stopping them, or repairing the damage? Impunity and Capitalism: The Afterlives of Europ...
Ryan Thomas Skinner, "Afro-Sweden: Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country" (U Minnesota Press, 2022)
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Contemporary Sweden is a country with a worldwide progressive reputation, despite an undeniable tradition of racism within its borders. In the face of...
What will be the Role of Europe in the Changing World Order?
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The transatlantic relationship, arguably the bedrock of the world’s post-World War II international security architecture, came under significant th...
On Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1925, on the French occupied island of Martinique, one of the most prominent voices in post colonial theory was born, Frantz Fanon. He was born to ...
Xabier Irujo and Queralt Solé, "Nazi Juggernaut in the Basque Country and Catalonia" (Center for Basque Studies, 2019)
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to Xabier Irujo about his book (co-authored with Queralt Solé) Nazi Juggernaut in the Basque Country and Catalonia (Center for Bas...
Jennifer Eun-Jung Row, "Queer Velocities: Time, Sex, and Biopower on the Early Modern Stage" (Northwestern UP, 2022)
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a pathbreaking new book, today’s guest, Jennifer Eun-Jung Row, asks how delay and haste in early modern French theater subverts the temporality o...
On George Orwell's "1984"
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1948, English author George Orwell wrote what would become one of the defining novels of the 20th century, 1984. He was writing in the years follow...
Dalibor Roháč, "Governing the EU in an Age of Division" (Edward Elgar, 2022)
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"An important distinction exists between the politics of rules at which the EU is quite adept and the politics driven by events - which requires impro...
Stephen Bourne, "Under Fire: Black Britain in Wartime 1939-45" (The History Press, 2020)
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Under Fire: Black Britain in Wartime 1939-45 (The History Press, 2020), Stephen Bourne tells the whole story of Britain's black community during ...
Kathryn Dickason, "Ringleaders of Redemption: How Medieval Dance Became Sacred" (Oxford UP, 2021)
25 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In popular thought, Christianity is often figured as being opposed to dance. Conventional scholarship traces this controversy back to the Middle Ages....
Kees Boterbloem, "Russia and the Dutch Republic, 1566–1725: A Forgotten Friendship" (Lexington Books, 2021)
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Once upon a time, it was said that Russia was isolated and ignorant until Peter the Great opened Russia to the West and ushered in modernization. Whil...
Aidan Enright, "Charles Owen O'Conor, the O'Conor Don: Landlordism, Liberal Catholicism and Unionism in Nineteenth-Century Ireland" (Four Courts, 2022)
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Aidan Enright holds a PhD in History from Queen’s University Belfast and is an Associate Researcher and Part-Time Lecturer in History at Leeds Becke...
Frans Camphuijsen, "Scripting Justice in Late Medieval Europe: Legal Practice and Communication in the Law Courts of Utrecht, York and Paris" (Amsterdam UP, 2022)
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Frans Camphuijsen explored records from the law courts of York, Paris, and Utrecht and used them as a base for Scripting Justice in Late Medieval Eu...
Gary Kates, "The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies" (Bloomsbury, 2022)
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), Gary Kates looks at the multifaceted...
On Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish"
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We moderns often tell ourselves a story that goes something like this: The past was barbaric, especially when it came to punishing criminals or persec...
On Matteo Maria Boiardo's "Orlando Innamorato"
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Italian Renaissance was an era of rebirth in the arts, sciences, engineering, anatomy, and architecture. But also for literature. One of the most ...
What is the Future of Populism?
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The world's wealthier countries have in recent years faced challenges from right-wing populist parties and movements that may rejuvenate origins from ...
Robert J. Savage, "Northern Ireland, the BBC, and Censorship in Thatcher's Britain, 1979-1990" (Oxford UP, 2022)
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robert J. Savage is a professor in the Boston College History Department and served as one of the directors of the University’s Irish Studies progra...
Erin Alice Cowling, "Chocolate: How a New World Commodity Conquered Spanish Literature" (U Toronto Press, 2021)
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In terms of its popularity, as well as its production, chocolate was among the first foods to travel from the New World to Spain. Chocolate: How a Ne...
Caroline Roope, "The History of the London Underground Map" (Pen and Sword Transport, 2022)
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Few transportation maps can boast the pedigree that London’s iconic ‘Tube’ map can. Sported on t-shirts, keyrings, duvet covers, and most recent...
Deiter Reinisch, "Learning behind Bars: How IRA Prisoners Shaped the Peace Process in Ireland" (U Toronto Press, 2022)
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dieter Reinisch is a Government of Ireland Irish Research Council Fellow in the School of Political Science and Sociology, University of Galway, and a...
Louise Ashley, "Highly Discriminating: Why the City Isn't Fair and Diversity Doesn't Work" (Bristol UP, 2022)
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can we make the finance industry fair? In Highly Discriminating: Why the City Isn’t Fair and Diversity Doesn’t Work (Bristol UP, 2022), Louise ...
Ethnonationalism since 1973: A Discussion with Quinn Slobodian
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the relationship between immigration, globalization and demographics? And what is woke particularism? John and Elizabeth turn for answers to...
Guido Ruggiero, "Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance" (Harvard UP, 2021)
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today Jana Byars talks to her PhD advisor Guido Ruggiero about his latest monograph, Love and Sex in the Time of Plague: A Decameron Renaissance (...
On Boethius' "The Consolation of Philosophy"
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For much of his life, the Roman philosopher Boethius was exceptionally fortunate. But towards the end of his life, his luck ran out. He was accused of...
Michael A. Hunzeker, "Dying to Learn: Wartime Lessons from the Western Front" (Cornell UP, 2021)
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Dying to Learn: Wartime Lessons from the Western Front (Cornell UP, 2021), Michael Hunzeker develops a novel theory to explain how wartime milita...
On H. G. Well's "The Time Machine"
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When H.G. Wells was growing up in England in the 1860s, science wasn’t part of education or everyday life the way it is now. Even though the 19th ce...
Sara Rich, "Shipwreck Hauntography: Underwater Ruins and the Uncanny" (Amsterdam UP, 2021)
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing on a broad theoretical range from speculative realism to feminist psychoanalysis and anti-colonialism, this book represents a radical departur...
Nile Green, "The Love of Strangers: What Six Muslim Students Learned in Jane Austen's London" (Princeton UP, 2015)
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In July 1815, six Iranian students arrived in London under the escort of their chaperone, Captain Joseph D'Arcy. Their mission was to master the moder...
On Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's "Elements of the Philosophy of Right"
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The notion of freedom and how to ensure it for all has occupied the minds of many modern thinkers. In his text Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Ge...
William Doyle, "Napoleon at Peace: How to End a Revolution" (Reaktion Books, 2022)
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The French Revolution facilitated the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, but after gaining power he knew that his first task was to end it. In this book Will...
Stephen G. Rabe, "The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy: A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The fateful days and weeks surrounding 6 June 1944 have been extensively documented in histories of the Second World War, but less attention has been ...
Charles Read, "The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis" (Boydell & Brewer, 2022)
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain’s Financial Crisis (Boydell & Brewer, 2022) is rich in archival detail and offers a ground-breaking analysi...
Holger Afflerbach, "On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War (Cambridge UP, 2022), Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome of the war was actually in...
Anna von der Goltz, "The Other '68ers: Student Protest and Christian Democracy in West Germany" (Oxford UP, 2021)
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anna von der Goltz’s The Other ‘68ers: Student Protest and Christian Democracy in West Germany (Oxford University Press, 2021) is a history of 1...
On Edward Said's "Orientalism"
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Beginning in the 17th century, European countries began colonizing countries east of Europe. They imposed their own ideas over local cultures and extr...
Sarah Ifft Decker, "The Fruit of Her Hands: Jewish and Christian Women's Work in Medieval Catalan Cities" (Pennsylvania State, 2022)
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the thriving urban economies of late thirteenth-century Catalonia, Jewish and Christian women labored to support their families and their communiti...
Sara Jones, "Towards a Collaborative Memory: German Memory Work in a Transnational Context" (Berghahn Books, 2022)
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Focusing on the memory of the German Democratic Republic, Towards a Collaborative Memory: German Memory Work in a Transnational Context (Berghahn Bo...
Peter Adamson, "Don't Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy" (U Notre Dame Press, 2022)
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Don't Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy (U Notre Dame Press, 2022), Peter Adamson provides an answer to a question ...
David Caute, "Red List: MI5 and British Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century" (Verso, 2022)
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the popular imagination MI5, or the Security Service, is know chiefly as the branch of the British state responsible for chasing down those who pos...
Erin Webster, "The Curious Eye: Optics and Imaginative Literature in Seventeenth-Century England" (Oxford UP, 2020)
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest, Erin Webster, is the author of The Curious Eye: Optics and Literature in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2020). A bo...
On Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Social Contract"
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that humans are born good, but society corrupts them. He was unimpressed with the fixation o...
Andrew Fitzmaurice, "King Leopold's Ghostwriter: The Creation of Persons and States in the Nineteenth Century" (Princeton UP, 2021)
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Eminent jurist, Oxford professor, advocate to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Travers Twiss (1809–1897) was a model establishment figure in Victorian ...
Joseph Valente and Margot Gayle Backus, "The Child Sex Scandal and Modern Irish Literature: Writing the Unspeakable" (Indiana UP, 2020)
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What can James Joyce, Kate O’Brien, Edna O’Brien, Keith Ridgway, Tana French, and Anne Enright tell us about Ireland’s culture of child sexual a...
On "Grimms' Fairytales"
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You probably already know the story of Snow White—as well as Little Red Riding Hood, Briar Rose, The Frog Prince, and so many others. These tales ha...
Laura A. Frahm, "Design in Motion: Film Experiments at the Bauhaus" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Design in Motion: Film Experiments at the Bauhaus (MIT Press, 2022) provides the first comprehensive history of film experiments at the Bauhaus, the...
Joanna Ebenstein, "Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) was a celebrated Dutch anatomist, master embalmer, and museologist. He is best remembered today for strange tableaux, craf...
The Future of Money Laundering: A Discussion with Oliver Bullough
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How can you hide and spend billions of dollars? Many people hoping to do that go to London which is today considered the money laundering capital of t...
Timothy Murtagh, "Irish Artisans and Radical Politics, 1776-1820: Apprenticeship to Revolution" (Liverpool UP, 2022)
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Murtagh completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin. He was a historical consultant on the Dublin Tenement Museum at No. 14 Henrietta Street and a...
Ian Morris, "Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World--A 10,000-Year History" (FSG, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World--A 10,000-Year History (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2022), Ian Morris chronicles the eight-thousand-yea...
Mackenzie Cooley, "The Perfection of Nature: Animals, Breeding, and Race in the Renaissance" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Renaissance is celebrated for the belief that individuals could fashion themselves to greatness, but there is a dark undercurrent to this fêted e...
Tom Haines-Doran, "Derailed: How to Fix Britain's Broken Railways" (Manchester UP, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why don't trains run on time? Why are fares so expensive? Why are there so many strikes? Few would disagree that Britain's railways are broken, and ha...
Victor Stater, "Hoax: The Popish Plot That Never Was" (Yale UP, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The extraordinary story of the Popish Plot and how it shaped the political and religious future of Britain In 1678, a handful of perjurers claimed tha...
Nicholas Micinski, "Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union" (U Michigan Press, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union (U Michigan Press, 2022) explores the politics of migration i...
Nancy November, "String Quartets in Beethoven's Europe" (Academic Studies Press, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nancy November's edited volume String Quartets in Beethoven's Europe (Academic Studies Press, 2022) is the first detailed study of string quartets i...
Anna Triandafyllidou and Ruby Gropas, "What is Europe?" (Routledge, 2022)
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As they worked on the second edition of What is Europe? (Routledge, 2022), Anna Triandafyllidou and Ruby Gropas admit that they struggled to keep up...
Matthias Bernt, "The Commodification Gap: Gentrification and Public Policy in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg" (Wiley, 2022)
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Commodification Gap: Gentrification and Public Policy in London, Berlin and St. Petersburg (Wiley, 2022) provides an insightful institutionalist ...
Benjamin Parris, "Vital Strife: Sleep, Insomnia, and the Early Modern Ethics of Care" (Cornell UP, 2022)
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In an exciting new book titled Vital Strife: Sleep, Insomnia, and the Early Modern Ethics of Care (Cornell UP, 2022), Benjamin Parris shows how earl...
Bartholomew Ryan, "Kierkegaard's Indirect Politics: Interludes with Lukács, Schmitt, Benjamin and Adorno" (Brill, 2014)
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1848, as political movements and events were sweeping Europe and Marx and Engels penned their famous Communist Manifesto, Kierkegaard wrote in a l...
John Jeffries Martin, "A Beautiful Ending: The Apocalyptic Imagination and the Making of the Modern World" (Yale UP, 2022)
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Martin’s A Beautiful Ending: The Apocalyptic Imagination and the Making of the Modern World (Yale, 2022) is a survey of Early Modern Eu...
Ron E. Hassner, "Anatomy of Torture" (Cornell UP, 2022)
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Does torture "work?" Can controversial techniques such as waterboarding extract crucial and reliable intelligence? Since 9/11, this question has been ...
Saskia Warren, "British Muslim Women in the Cultural and Creative Industries" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why is religion important in understanding creative industries? In British Muslim Women in the Cultural and Creative Industries (Edinburgh Universit...
On Samuel Smiles' "Self-Help"
26 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Samuel Smiles’ Self-Help isn’t just an advice manual. It represents the invention of a genre, and not a moment too soon. Smiles was writing at a t...
On Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex"
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In her diary, Simone de Beauvoir once wrote “I did not think of myself as a 'woman.' I was me.” Then, in 1949, de Beauvoir published The Second Se...
Jennifer Lillian Lodine-Chaffey, "A Weak Woman in a Strong Battle: Women and Public Execution in Early Modern England" (U Alabama Press, 2022)
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Content Warning: discussion of execution gets a bit gruesome. Jennifer Lodine-Chaffey, A Weak Woman in a Strong Battle: Women and Public Execution ...
Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters"
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Vault, we hear Harry Berger’s talk about Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters." Harry Berger was a schola...
Tracy Adams and Christine Adams, "The Creation of the French Royal Mistress: From Agnès Sorel to Madame Du Barry" (Penn State UP, 2020)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kings throughout medieval and early modern Europe had extraconjugal sexual partners. Only in France, however, did the royal mistress become a quasi-in...
Camilla Russell, "Being a Jesuit in Renaissance Italy: Biographical Writing in the Early Global Age" (Harvard UP, 2022)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Society of Jesus was established in 1540. In the century that followed, thousands sought to become Jesuits and pursue vocations in religious servi...
Thomas E. Burman et al., "The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650-1650" (U California Press, 2022)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650-1650 (U California Press, 2022) presents an original and revisionist narrative of the developmen...
Ela Gezen et al., "Minority Discourses in Germany since 1990" (Berghahn Books, 2022)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While German unification promised a new historical beginning, it also stirred discussions about contemporary Germany's Nazi past and ideas of citizens...
Michael Keevak, "On Saving Face: A Brief History of Western Appropriation" (Hong Kong UP, 2022)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In On Saving Face: A Brief History of Western Appropriation (Hong Kong UP, 2022), Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept...
Martin Fárek, "India in the Eyes of Europeans: Conceptualization of Religion in Theology and Oriental Studies" (Karolinum Press, Charles University, 2021)
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Fárek's India in the Eyes of Europeans: Conceptualization of Religion in Theology and Oriental Studies (Karolinum Press, Charles University,...
Eden Collinsworth, "What the Ermine Saw: The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo Da Vinci's Most Mysterious Portrait" (Doubleday Books, 2022)
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the tradition of The Lady in Gold and The Hare with Amber Eyes, the remarkable history behind one of the world's most beloved paintings, Leonardo d...
On Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, an investigation into the nature of wealth. Smith is now considered the Father of Capitalism or t...
On Carl von Clausewitz's "On War"
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Carl von Clausewitz wrote On War in 1832 after experiencing the Napoleonic wars. The eight books of this text contain Clausewitz’s theory of war. In...
On Immanuel Kant's "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals"
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Immanuel Kant’s early work wasn’t much to write home about. But as his career developed, Kant published incredible works of philosophy that contin...
Leslie A. Geddes, "Watermarks: Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mastery of Nature" (Princeton UP, 2020)
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Formless, mutable, transparent: the element of water posed major challenges for the visual artists of the Renaissance. To the engineers of the era, wa...
On Niccolò Machiavelli's "The Prince"
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You may know the term “Machiavellian,” but where does the word really come from? Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat who worked firsthand...
E. Amanda McVitty, "Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England: Gender, Law and Political Culture" (Boydell Press, 2020)
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England: Gender, Law and Political Culture (Boydell Press, 2020) by Dr. E. Amanda McVitty presents a groundbreaki...
Alan Warde et al., "The Social Significance of Dining Out: A Study of Continuity and Change" (Manchester UP, 2020)
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dining out used to be considered exceptional. However, the Food Standards Authority reported that in 2014, one meal in six was eaten away from home in...
Camilla Hawthorne, "Contesting Race and Citizenship: Youth Politics in the Black Mediterranean" (Cornell UP, 2022)
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Contesting Race and Citizenship: Youth Politics in the Black Mediterranean (Cornell University Press, 2022) is an original study of Black politics a...
Gregory Conti, "Parliament the Mirror of the Nation: Representation, Deliberation, and Democracy in Victorian Britain" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Given that we live in an era roiled by concerns about how democratic supposedly democratic countries actually are and when skepticism abounds about ho...
Loukas Tsoukalis, "Europe's Coming of Age" (Polity Press, 2022)
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The EU, writes Loukas Tsoukalis, is “a strange vehicle … unlike any others on the roads of the world, surely not a flashy vehicle – rather slow ...
On Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Watching our favorite TV shows and movies today, it’s easy to take the relatable characters and familiar settings for granted. But when Henrik Ibsen...
Carles Prado-Fonts, "Secondhand China: Spain, the East, and the Politics of Translation" (Northwestern UP, 2022)
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today I spoke with Carles Prado-Fonts on his recently published book Secondhand China: Spain, the East, and the Politics of Translation (Northweste...
Emelia Quinn, "Reading Veganism: The Monstrous Vegan, 1818 to Present" (Oxford UP, 2021)
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Reading Veganism: The Monstrous Vegan, 1818 to Present (Oxford UP, 2021) focuses on the iteration of the trope of ‘the monstrous vegan’ across 2...
Edward Chancellor, "The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2022)
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Edward Chancellor's just published history of interest rates could not be better timed. As the world adjusts to rising rates after decades of falling...
Asha Rogers, "State Sponsored Literature: Britain and Cultural Diversity After 1945" (Oxford UP, 2020)
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How does the state support writers? In State Sponsored Literature: Britain and Cultural Diversity after 1945 (Oxford UP, 2020), Asha Rogers, Senio...
On the Life and Legacy of Queen Elizabeth II
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022. She reigned for 70 years, longer than any other British sovereign. In this interview, Charles Coutinho ...
Adam Elliott-Cooper, "Black Resistance to British Policing" (Manchester UP, 2021)
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As police racism unsettles Britain's tolerant self-image, Black Resistance to British Policing (Manchester UP, 2021) details the activism that made ...
Martha Rampton, "Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000" (Cornell UP, 2021)
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Martha Rampton, Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual, and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000 (Cornell University Press, 2021) explores how magic ...
Timothy McCall, "Brilliant Bodies: Fashioning Courtly Men in Early Renaissance Italy" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2022)
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Italian court culture of the fifteenth century was a golden age, gleaming with dazzling princes, splendid surfaces, and luminous images that separated...
Cinema’s First Nasty Women
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What makes a nasty woman? Is it her unwillingness to break to the stringent standards of patriarchy, her gameness to get rough, even abject? Or is it ...
Clémentine Deliss, "The Metabolic Museum" (Hatje Cantz, 2020)
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Metabolic Museum (Hatje Cantz, 2020), Clémentine Deliss, a curator, researcher, and former director of the Frankfurt Weltkulturen Museum, ex...
The Future of the Legitimate Opposition: A Discussion with Alexander S. Kirshner
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alexander Kirshner’s book Legitimate Opposition (Yale UP, 2022) can be seen as a reaction to the politics of Donald Trump and the questions he has...
Sarah Colvin, "Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners" (Reaktion Books, 2022)
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Shadowland: The Story of Germany Told by Its Prisoners (Reaktion Books, 2022) is a history of modern Germany told not through the lives of its lea...
Jenny C. Mann, "The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime" (Princeton UP, 2021)
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest is Jenny Mann, who has a new book titled The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime (Princeton University ...