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