Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884) was a brilliant and successful lawyer in New Orleans, and one of the first Jewish members of the U.S. Senate. He then served in the Confederacy as secretary of war and secretary of state, becoming the confidant and alter ego of Jefferson Davis. In this new biography in the Jewish Lives series at Yale University Press,…
During the Space Race, space science fiction cinema on both sides of the Iron Curtain was often a tool for articulating visions of the future; today, this cinematic subgenre is a site of – often nostalgic – memory. Soviet science fiction cinema is an especially interesting case in point. Once a prophecy of 'great things to come' under the auspices…
From the 1880s to the 1940s, an upsurge of explosive pogroms caused much pain and suffering across the eastern borderlands of Europe. Rioters attacked Jewish property and caused physical harm to women and children. During World War I and the Russian Civil War, pogrom violence turned into full-blown military actions. In some cases, pogroms wiped entire Jewish communities out of existence.…
A conversation with Silvana Patriarca (Fordham University), Pamela Ballinger (University of Michigan) and Giulia Bonazza(Ca’ Foscari University & Columbia). Coordinator: Konstantina Zanou (Columbia University). This event celebrates the recent publication of three books, which are here presented and discussed in dialogue with each other: Giulia Bonazza’s Abolitionism and the Persistence of Slavery in Italian States, 1750–1850 (2019), Pamela Ballinger’s…
Giacomo Puccini named three criteria of Italian music: clarity, spontaneity, and simplicity. In this meeting we explore the music of Francesco Provenzale, founder of the Neapolitan school of opera, especially for his use of harmony. Provenzale’s expressive dissonances heighten the clarity of his overall harmonic scheme. "What Makes It Italian?": According to Puccini is a music listening and discussion group that…
Cian McMahon in conversation with Marcus Rediker Thursday October 28, 2021, 2pm-3.15pm ET THE SLAVE SHIP AND THE COFFIN SHIP: HISTORIES OF LIFE AND DEATH AT SEA. Earlier this year, Cian McMahon published the first full-length scholarly study of the Atlantic and Pacific crossings, The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine (NYU Press). McMahon’s study was inspired,…
DNA has the potential to be an essential and exciting genealogical tool. But many Eastern European Jewish testers find their DNA results completely overwhelming and unnavigable. In this talk, Jennifer Mendelsohn, an internationally renowned journalist and professional genealogist, will help those with Ashkenazi heritage learn how to make sense of their DNA results. She’ll cover the basics of DNA testing, including…
Historians began writing the history of the Holocaust in Yiddish from a distinctly Jewish perspective in the years immediately after World War II. These Yiddish historians studied the Holocaust from the perspective of its Jewish victims, rather than that of the Nazi perpetrators, examining daily life in the ghettos and camps, and stressing the importance of survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts,…
Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a conversation with Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon, moderated by Sharon Marcus in the context of the recent publication of Reitter and Wellmon’s new book, Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age (The University of Chicago Press, 2021). The humanities, considered by many as irrelevant for modern careers and hopelessly devoid of funding, seem…
Read and discuss Scandinavian literature in translation as part of our Nordic Book Club, now online! Each month we select a novel from some of the best Nordic literary voices. Discussions have typically taken place the last Tuesday of the month at Scandinavia House but will now be taking place bi-weekly as an online meeting. Book club participants will all…
