Book Reviews

Historical works on settler colonialism and genocide are voluminous, but there are relatively few, if any, works of synthesis geared to advanced high school and undergraduate students. Happily, the author Mohamed Adhikari, Professor of History...

There are several versions of Atalanta's story in Greek mythology, and Jennifer Saint, known for writing mythology-based novels, chose to build her story around the most compelling elements that make for a very engaging story to a modern...

As Assistant Professor of History at Utrecht University, Ozan Ozavci focuses on the twilight of the Ottoman Empire, a period when its European rivals intervened, economically and militarily, in Ottoman affairs. As a professor of Transimperial...

The plight of 16-year-old Jerome Amakusa, the supposed leader of the rebellion, and the rebels who accompanied him are at once instantly recognisable to contemporary readers, and yet they were alien, by design, to the populace of Edo Period...

John Spurling has crafted a lyrical retelling of some well-known Greek myths, weaving these seemingly disparate stories together with subtle themes. The most prominent common factor throughout this collection is that each retelling features...

In Since Time Immemorial, Emory University history professor Yanna Yannakakis explores the meaning of a specific word at a specific time – "custom" – and what it meant during Spain's rule over Mexico. As Spanish leaders sought to consolidate...

Elektra by Jennifer Saint is a novel retelling numerous popular tales from Greek mythology, including Paris of Troy stealing away Helen of Sparta, the Trojan War in response to this disrespect to Menelaus, and the aftermath of Agamemnon's...

Healing with Poisons: Potent Medicines in Medieval China is a groundbreaking work delving into the realm of du, meaning toxic or poison, within Chinese pharmacy. Taking readers to China during the 3rd to 10th centuries, a crucial period for...

The first chapter acknowledges the impact that Roman literature had on European portrayals of Cleopatra as an immoral outsider. In the Renaissance and early modern period, writers and painters associated Cleopatra with foreignness, murderous...

Jessie Hewitt’s Institutionalizing Gender: Madness, the Family, and Psychiatric Power in Nineteenth-Century France ties together themes of French society, psychiatry, the family, and gender analysis into one seminal text. Hewitt works to...