Humanities & Arts

Peter Hansen, a mountaineering expert and professor in the Department of Humanities and Arts, provided analysis for a HISTORY.com article on the legacy of a 14th century mountain hike by Petrarch. In the article, Hansen describes how, centuries later, the Italian poet’s writings about the climb began to attract attention. Hansen further explores the impact of Petrarch’s hike in his book, “The Summits of Modern Man: Mountaineering after the Enlightenment.”

A book written by John Sanbonmatsu, professor of philosophy, was featured in a Forbes magazine book review and was chosen by Food Tank, a non-profit organization, as one of its 20 Must-Read Books on Food, Culture, and Climate for Summer Reading. The book, The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves critiques the ecological, social, and moral consequences of the animal food system.

“It's really meaningful to see it out there in the world for people to get to know." Lucy Caplan, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities & Arts spoke to Worcester Magazine about her newly published book, Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera. The book offers an often-untold account of the Black composers, performers, critics, teachers, and students who helped shape the genre in the early 1900s.