Nancy Bisaha publishes From Christians to Europeans: Pope Pius II and the Concept of the Modern Western Identity
Nancy Bisaha, Professor of History, is author of From Christians to Europeans: Pope Pius II and the Concept of the Modern Western Identity, newly published by Routledge (June 2023).
“From Christians to Europeans expertly reconstructs a forgotten and crucial chapter in the conceptualization of Europe and the development of European identity,”
—Emily O’Brien, Ph.D., of Simon Fraser University
This first in-depth examination of Pope Pius II’s development of the concept of Europe charts the life and work of Pius II (1405–1464) and introduces readers to the idea of Europe as conceived by this influential early thinker. It offers comprehensive consideration of Pius’s Renaissance path to the idea of a unified European culture, society, and identity through close readings of correspondence, autobiography, and other works. Moreover, Pius’s bold definitions of Europe and Europeans resonate with today’s debates about identity, ethnicity, race, and belonging in Europe and more generally. “From Christians to Europeans expertly reconstructs a forgotten and crucial chapter in the conceptualization of Europe and the development of European identity,” observes Emily O’Brien, Ph.D., of Simon Fraser University. “At the same time, Bisaha’s sharp analysis sheds important new light on Pope Pius II—a towering figure in the intellectual, political, and religious worlds of Renaissance Italy.”