Month: October 2024

Review of T. Corey Brennan's The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome's Most Dangerous Political Symbol (New York: Oxford University Press), Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 32 (1), Spring/Summer 2024, 177-91.

The fasces—the bundled axes and rods which symbolized power and punishment in ancient Rome—have often exerted a powerful hold on the Western imagination, long before their adoption by Mussolini led to their co-option for the term “fascist”, with all of its stark, unsavory, and brutal political connotations.Read more...

Review of Chiara Bonacchi, Heritage and Nationalism: Understanding Populism through Big Data (London: UCL Press, 2022), Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 30 (3), September 2024, 837-8.

The politicization of the past has long been a key concern for archaeologists, historians, and heritage professionals. However, with the recent advent of social media, new opportunities to research the resonance of distant pasts in populist rhetoric now abound – if such sources can be harnessed appropriately.Read more...

In September 2024, Helen and film-maker Alan Fentiman undertook further filming for Helen's forthcoming documentary project on the history of the Napolas, focused on an archive of video interviews with former Napola-pupils. The film-crew's visit to Illenau was featured in the local press, including the Acherner Rench-Zeitung and the Badische Neueste Nachrichten –Read more...

In September 2024, Helen was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS).Read more...