We are delighted to open the first issue of ARO 2026 with some special news: we welcome our new co-editor, Petra Terhoeven. We would also like to thank the outgoing co-editor, Gabriele Clemens, for her invaluable work over the past three years. Finally, we extend a warm welcome to the new members of the ARO Team: young colleagues who are joining us and will bring new energy and ideas.

The past year marked the 500th anniversary of the Peasants’ War of 1525. We know that the term “Peasants’ Wars” dates back to that era, but it should be remembered that peasants were not the only—nor perhaps the predominant—element among the actors in the uprisings and fighting. Rather, these were movements initiated and sustained by the so-called “common man,” der gemeine Mann, that is, by a social class that was by no means confined to rural areas. The anniversary thus provided an opportunity to bring the uprisings back to the center of historiographical debate, particularly in the German-speaking region—among the areas most affected by the phenomenon—with a renewed research perspective: not only political and religious history, but also the role of women in the uprisings, the history of reception, and the relationship between uprisings and the media.

These are some of the themes of the books selected by ARO’s FORUM. Thomas Kaufmann’s volume, reviewed by Martina Fuchs, analyzes precisely this latter aspect. Lyndal Roper, as Carlo Taviani notes, offers instead a broad and fluid narrative that weaves together the long-term history of the peasants—the environment, community life, and mechanisms of organization and communication—with the intense moment of the 1525 rebellion. In a compelling volume, Gerd Schwerhoff reconstructs the events of the peasant uprisings. In his review, Giorgio Politi highlights both the involvement of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent and the need to situate the phenomenon within the broader historiographical debate led by scholars such as Günter Franz and Peter Blickle. Angela De Benedictis concludes the Forum with a review of David von Mayenburg’s book, which offers a profile of the peasant protagonists of the German Peasants’ War of 1524–1525: individuals well-versed in legal matters and increasingly inclined toward peaceful resolutions of the conflict.

The other sections of this issue feature numerous studies with a longue durée perspective, as well as early modern and contemporary history, including reviews of recent books dedicated to the global history of the environment, the history of emotions, medical practice in the early modern period, and the history of childbirth. Among the reviewed volumes, we also note the one dedicated to the history of the Palestinians: how their national and political identity developed and how the conflict with Israel evolved. Finally, there is an in-depth analysis of school textbooks, examined as tools of indoctrination during Fascism and Nazism, to understand how “re-education” processes function and how young Germans and Italians came to learn about their countries’ dictatorial pasts and their complicity in the Holocaust.

Enjoy your reading!

Katia Occhi

Editorial September 2025

The second issue of “Annali.Reviews.Online” of 2025 opens with a forum dedicated to Sergio Luzzatto's Dolore e Furore. Una storia delle Brigate Rosse, reviewed by John Foot and Davide Serafino. The book provides an in-depth look at the city of Genoa — its streets, factories, neighborhoods, and schools — demonstrating how the urban and social environment shaped radicalism and violence. Luzzatto combines documentary research, interviews, and historical reflections, never shying away from the ethical and methodological questions concerning the role of the historian and the relationship between words and actions. Read more...

Editorial March 2025

It is with great pleasure that we present the new issue of «Annali.Reviews.Online» 2025/1, the digital journal of the Italian-German Historical Institute of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler.

We live in an era in which access to knowledge should be a universal right. With this spirit in mind, our journal was founded in 2018 as a space dedicated to the critical review of history books, freely accessible to everyone. We believe that historical knowledge should not remain confined within academic walls but should circulate freely, enriching public debate and providing tools to better understand the present through the past. Read more...

Editorial September 2024

The new issue of ARO 2024/2 opens with a FORUM dedicated to the events of urban planning in Europe, the central theme of the volume edited by Max Welch Guerra, Abdellah Abarkan, María A. Castrillo Romón, and Martin Pekár, European Planning History in the 20th Century: A Continent of Urban Planning (New York, 2023), reviewed by Marika Fior and Christoph Strupp. Read more...

Editorial March 2024

Dear readers, the first 2024 issue of «Annali.Reviews.Online» opens with the Forum “Religion and Social History in the Early Modern Period” dedicated to two important volumes, Sacre metamorfosi. Racconti di conversione tra Roma e il mondo in età moderna by Chiara Petrolini, Vincenzo Lavenia, and Sabina Pavone and Catholic Spectacle and Rome's Jews. Early Modern Conversion and Resistance by Emily Michelson. Read more...

Editorial September 2023

Dear readers, we are pleased to present to you the September edition of “Annali.Reviews.Online”, the last issue of 2023. It opens with an interesting Forum devoted to the book of Marco Armiero, Roberta Biasillo, and Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, La natura del duce. Una storia ambientale del fascismo, reviewed in the Italian edition (published by Einaudi) by Simona Leoni Boscani (Bern) and in the English edition Mussolini’s Nature (published by MIT Press) by Anna Koch (London). Read more...

Editorial May 2023

The new issue of "ARO" (Annali Reviews Online) 2023/2 inaugurates a new season for the Italian-German Historical Institute at the Bruno Kessler Foundation, with the renewal of its governing bodies. Read more...

Editorial 2021

The journal «ARO» (Annali Reviews Online) was established in 2018 with the aim of promoting the dissemination of research and fostering the transnational dialogue between historical science specialists. Read more...


Editorial 2018

"Annali.Reviews.Online" (ARO) is a new electronic journal devoted entirely to book reviews in keeping with a trend that is becoming widespread in international scientific publishing. Read more...