Political Nostalgias—Ancient and Medieval Worlds

This volume is the first in a sub-series entitled Political Nostalgias. This book considers nostalgia as it was understood in ancient and medieval worlds and explores how nostalgia for those lost civilizations plays a role in the politics of later periods.

Defined most simply as a wistful or sentimental longing for a past period or set of conditions, nostalgia has played a significant role in shaping historical and contemporary political discourses. It has been particularly associated with right-leaning individuals and groups, but collective nostalgia is experienced across the political spectrum—although the focus and content of that nostalgia may differ significantly according to political affiliation. In this volume, contributors explore how longing for a real or imagined past fuels dissatisfaction with the present moment and provides an impetus for radical change across different times and locations.

Rachel E. Moss is Associate Professor in History at the University of Northampton. Specializing in gender, sexuality, and family, Moss is the author of Fatherhood and its Representations in Middle English Texts (2013).

Helen Roche is Associate Professor in Modern European Cultural History at Durham University. Key publications include Sparta's German Children (2013) and The Third Reich's Elite Schools (2021).

Ricarda Meisl is a PhD candidate in the Department of Classics at New York University. She is currently NYU Public Humanities Fellow and an editor at Rhea Classical Review.