James Hankins

James Hankins is Professor of History at Harvard University. In 2012 the Renaissance Society of America awarded him its highest honor, the Paul Oskar Kristeller Lifetime Achievement Award.

4 Posts

Cultural Revolution in the Renaissance?

The problem with this picture of the Renaissance is not that it has no truth to it—it certainly has some—but that it is perversely unbalanced.

James Hankins

29 Jul 2020 · 8 min read

Do We Really Want a New Cold War?

Politicians and the commentariat keep shouting “China is not our friend!” But friendship is a good thing, the most rewarding of all human relationships.

James Hankins

24 May 2020 · 6 min read

Social Distancing During the Black Death

The Black Death wiped out half the population of Europe in the space of four years.

James Hankins

28 Mar 2020 · 5 min read

PODCAST 70: Harvard history professor James Hankins talks about his new book on Renaissance Italy

Harvard Historian James Hankins on what the great Renaissance humanists can teach us about virtue and statecraft. Plus: Why so many get Machiavelli wrong.

Quillette / James Hankins

9 Jan 2020 · 1 min read