Jana Byars
LightNews LightNews
banner
janalena.bsky.social
Jana Byars
@janalena.bsky.social
1.2K followers 900 following 150 posts
Michigander in Amsterdam, early modern historian, avid reader of mystery and horror, hobby cook, nascent weaver, yoga teacher, podcast host with the New Books Network, Detroit sports fan, Basset Hound lover, slowly but surely becoming a tough old bird.
Posts Replies Media Videos
janalena.bsky.social
The pod just rereleased an oldie for your enjoyment! @kweingarten.bsky.social joins me on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social to talk about her @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social release, #Pregnancy Test. #skystorians #Gender #HistSex
Reminder to consult our back catalog!

newbooksnetwork.com/pregnancy-test
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Check out my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with @thomas-morel.bsky.social about @universitypress.cambridge.org Underground Mathematics Craft Culture and Knowledge in #EarlyModern #Europe. #skystorians #HistoryofMining #BookSky 📚💙 #HistoryofMaths #mathsky

newbooksnetwork.com/underground-...
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Nice @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social chat with Charles Watkins of @uniofnottingham.bsky.social about Trees Ancient and Modern: #Woodland Cultures and #Conservation @reaktionbooks.bsky.social #skystorians #EnvironmentalStudies #Forestry #trees #nature #rewilding
newbooksnetwork.com/trees-ancien...
November 5, 2025 at 3:56 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Fantastic @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with @witchykallestrup.bsky.social about The Construction of #Witchcraft in #EarlyModern #Denmark @routledgebooks.bsky.social #skystorians This is how you write a book and take an interview! #BookSky📚💙

newbooksnetwork.com/the-construc...
November 2, 2025 at 11:56 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Winner of best mustache and super smartie Ken Appold joins me on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social to talk about his new book: #Luther and the Peasants: #Religion, Ritual and the #Revoltof1525 @oxunipress.bsky.social #Reformation #earlymodern #skystorians
newbooksnetwork.com/luther-and-t...
October 27, 2025 at 8:32 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Almost every sentence I write is better after I take out some words. Previous sentence included. I deleted two.
October 9, 2025 at 7:14 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Natural teacher, the charming @davidmwhitford.bsky.social joined me on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social to talk about The Making of a #Reformation Man: #MartinLuther and Construction of #Masculinity @routledgehistory.bsky.social #EarlyModern #skystorians #BookSky📚💙

newbooksnetwork.com/hosts/index
October 7, 2025 at 3:54 PM
janalena.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 4:24 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Purse? Handbag? Pocketbook? They all matter. Great @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social chat with Kathleen Casey about The Things She Carried: A #CulturalHistory of the #Purse in America @oxfordacademic.bsky.social
#skystorians #FashionHistory #USHistory #WomensHistory

newbooksnetwork.com/the-things-s...
October 2, 2025 at 9:41 AM
janalena.bsky.social
The ludicrous idea that Tylenol causes autism reminds me a lot of the pre-modern idea monstrous births were the result of women having bad thoughts. Sketchy science aside it is just another way to control (and vilify!) women. I'm so tired.
#skystorians #earlymodernist #feminism #monsters #Tylenol
September 25, 2025 at 9:54 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Wonderful @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with Spike Bucklow about his new @reaktionbooks.bsky.social release, The Year: An #Ecology of the #Zodiac. It defies genre, maybe even summation. Loved it. #BookSky📚💙 #anthropology #folklore #astrology #Skystorians

newbooksnetwork.com/year
September 15, 2025 at 1:43 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Oh, this was fun! The marvelous Philip Carr-Gomm and I chatted on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about his @reaktionbooks.bsky.social 2010 A Brief History of Nakedness. Listen, read, and check out the photos! #BookSky 📚💙 #Religion #Druidry #Nudity #WitchSky

newbooksnetwork.com/a-brief-hist...
August 18, 2025 at 8:03 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Check out this quick and fun @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social chat with David de Boer about The #EarlyModern #Dutch Press in the Age of Religious Persecution" @oxunipress.bsky.social
#skystorians #Netherlands #Reformation #AcademicSky #Press #BookSky📚💙 #AcademicSky

newbooksnetwork.com/the-early-mo...
August 15, 2025 at 12:11 PM
janalena.bsky.social
And now for some good storytelling. Matt Sparks and Olivia Sizemore talk about Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social #Folklore #Appalachia #GhostStories #hauntings #Folktales #Kentucky

newbooksnetwork.com/haint-country
August 12, 2025 at 10:50 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Smart and delightful book, equally enjoyable @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview. @domford.bsky.social Mytholudics: Games and Myth @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
#GameTheory#Folklore #Myth #PopularCulture
newbooksnetwork.com/mytholudics
August 7, 2025 at 9:04 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Spoke to one of my academic heroes for this @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview! Samuel Kline Cohn, Popular Protest and Ideals of #Democracy in Late #Renaissance #Italy @oxunipress.bsky.social #skystorians #EarlyModern #politicalhistory

newbooksnetwork.com/popular-prot...
August 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Back from holidays and ready to catch up. Check out this @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social beauty with with Michael Green about @inekehuysman.bsky.social Private Life and Privacy in the #EarlyModern #LowCountries @brepols.net #Netherlands #Skystorians #Renaissance
newbooksnetwork.com/private-life...
August 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Check out my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview about The #Witch Studies Reader edited by @gentlemanjane.bsky.social and Soma Chaudhuri @dukepress.bsky.social
#GenderStudies #FeministStudies #decolonial #WomensHistory #postcolonial #witchcraft

newbooksnetwork.com/the-witch-st...
July 1, 2025 at 6:25 AM
janalena.bsky.social
This one was fun! @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with #ArtHistory Andrea Beyer to talk about Benvenuto Cellini and the Embodiment of the Modern Artist @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

#ArtHistory #skystorians #EarlyModern #Renaissance
newbooksnetwork.com/benvenuto-ce...
June 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Give a listen to my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with Enrique Fernandez and Darlene Abreu-Ferreira about Death and Gender in the Early Modern Period @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. #HistoryofDeath #GenderStudies #skystorians #EarlyModern #BookSky 📚💙

newbooksnetwork.com/death-and-ge...
June 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
janalena.bsky.social
New @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with David de Boer and Geert Janssen over @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social Refugee Politics in #EarlyModern Europe. #skystorians #BookSky📚💙 #EarlyModernist #Refugee #Migration #Renaissance #WarsofReligion

newbooksnetwork.com/refugee-poli...
June 12, 2025 at 4:03 PM
janalena.bsky.social
New @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with Kathleen Miller Doctrine and Disease in the British and Spanish Colonial World @psupress.bsky.social
#skystorians #EarlyModern #ColonialLatinAmerica #HistoryofDisease #BookSky📚💙

newbooksnetwork.com/doctrine-and...
June 4, 2025 at 8:08 AM
janalena.bsky.social
Nice @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social chat with Camilla Annerfeldt about @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social Clothing and Identity in #EarlyModern #Rome.
#skystorians #FashionHistory #BookSky 📚💙

newbooksnetwork.com/clothing-and...
May 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
janalena.bsky.social
Super fun @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social talk with Kirsten Macfarlane about @oupprimary.bsky.social Lay Learning and the #Bible in the 17th C #AtlanticWorld
#skystorians #EarlyModern #Christianity #HistoryofChristianity #ColonialHistory #BookSky 📚💙
newbooksnetwork.com/lay-learning...
May 21, 2025 at 9:06 AM
janalena.bsky.social
#Folklore fans: check out my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social talk with Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir about Ghosts, Trolls, and Hidden People @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

#Iceland #skystorians #ghoststories #booksky 📚💙
newbooksnetwork.com/ghosts-troll...
May 20, 2025 at 5:25 AM