By John Monfasani (NHC Fellow, 2011–12) Although the immense importance for the Renaissance of Greek émigrés to fifteenth-century Italy has long been recognized, much basic research on the phenomenon remains to be done. This new volume by John Monfasani gathers together fourteen studies filling in some of the gaps in our knowledge. The philosophers George … Continued
By Fred Kaplan (NHC Fellow, 1985–86) A vivid portrait of one of the most influential writers in our literary tradition. Kaplan creates a richly woven, psychologically astute portrayal of James' Victorian life and world. James' unpublished letters, as well as published and unpublished family letters, are at the heart of this vivid biography of the … Continued
By Deborah Cohen (NHC Fellow, 2001–02) At what point did the British develop their mania for interiors, wallpaper, furniture, and decoration? Why have the middle classes developed so passionate an attachment to the contents of their homes? This absorbing book offers surprising answers to these questions, uncovering the roots of today’s consumer society and investigating … Continued
By Susan F. Hirsch (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) On August 7, 1998, bombs exploded at two United States embassies in East Africa. American anthropologist Susan Hirsch and her husband Jamal, a Kenyan, were among the thousands of victims, and Jamal died. From there, Hirsch went on to face devastating grief with the help of friends and … Continued
By David R. Ambaras (NHC Fellow, 2014–15) This major new study uses vivid accounts of encounters between Chinese and Japanese people living at the margins of empire to elucidate Sino-Japanese relations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Each chapter explores mobility in East Asia through the histories of often ignored categories of people, including … Continued
By Richard M. Dorson (NHC Fellow, 1978–79) Most of Richard Dorson’s thirty years as folklorist have been spent collecting tales and legends in the remote backcountry, far from the centers of population. For this book he extended his search for folk traditions to one of the most heavily industrialized sections of the United States. Can folklore … Continued
By Helena Rosenblatt (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) Professor Rosenblatt presents a study of Benjamin Constant's intellectual development into a founding father of modern liberalism, through a careful analysis of his evolving views on religion. Constant's life spanned the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Napoleon's rise and rule, and the Bourbon Restoration. Rosenblatt analyzes Constant's key role in … Continued
By Thomas Brothers (NHC Fellow, 2003–04) In the early twentieth century, New Orleans was a place of colliding identities and histories, and Louis Armstrong was a gifted young man of psychological nimbleness. A dark-skinned, impoverished child, he grew up under low expectations, Jim Crow legislation, and vigilante terrorism. Yet he also grew up at the … Continued
By Richard M. Dorson (NHC Fellow, 1978–79)
Edited by Barbara A. Hanawalt (NHC Fellow, 1997–98) and Michal Kobialka The contributors to this volume cross disciplinary and theoretical boundaries to read the words, metaphors, images, signs, poetic illusions, and identities with which medieval men and women used space and place to add meaning to the world.