A conversation with Amy Kaufman and Paul Sturtevant about their book The Devil's Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past (University of Toronto Press 2020). Extremists groups such as white supremacists and ISIS use the Middle Ages to advocate for specific racial, religious, or gender orders, and promote violence as a means for attaining them. We talk about the contours and goals of these groups, their conflicted views of modernity and the Middle Ages, how Byzantium does or does not fit into this picture, and generally go off on many tangents. Also check out their complementary conversation with Danièle Cybulskie on The Medieval Podcast.
77. How did most people in the Roman empire get by? with Kim Bowes
76. Exploring the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, with Sergey Ivanov
75. The politics of archaeological heritage and reclamation, with Jonathan Hall
74. Laments for the Fall: Constantinople and Tenochtitlan in counterpoint, with Eleni Kefala
73. When did women “bind up” their hair, and why?, with Gabriel Radle
72. What do we mean by “Byzantine literature”?, with Stratis Papaioannou
71. Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425) had a lot to say, with Siren Çelik
70. Trees have histories too, with Alexander Olson
69. The experiences of Byzantine children, with Oana-Maria Cojocaru
68. Classical scholarship and philology in Byzantium, with Filippomaria Pontani
67. Wherein Tina and I take bad scholarly habits to task, with Tina Sessa
66. The perils of childbirth, with Christian Laes
65. Who was Hypatia of Alexandria and what does she stand for? with Silvia Ronchey
64. How did emperors make decisions?, with Michael Grünbart
63. The religion of simple believers, with Jack Tannous
62. Byzantine dress and fashion, with Jennifer Ball and Elizabeth Dospěl Williams
61. Being Roman in Syriac, with Hartmut Leppin
60. Representing the trauma of captivity, enslavement, and degradation, with Adam Goldwyn
59. What exactly ended in Late Antiquity?, with Polymnia Athanassiadi
58. The column and equestrian statue of Justinian, a landmark monument of Constantinople, with Elena Boeck
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