William J. Connell, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of History
His research is on the development of modern politics, philosophy, society and culture starting with the Renaissance.
Profile
I study a wide range of problems in Italian and Italian American History and European history in general, with particular concentrations on medieval and Renaissance intellectual history, humanism, social history and statebuilding in 14th-16th c. Italy, Niccolò Machiavelli's political thought, and early interactions between Italy and America. Recently I have been working on projects concerning interactions between 16th century Florence and northern Europe, Renaissance historical writing, Machiavelli's private correspondence, blasphemy in early modern Europe, and 19th century representations of Italian brigands.
Education
- Ph. D., University of California-Berkeley, 1989
- M.A., University of California-Berkeley, 1984
- B.A., Yale University, 1980
Publications and Academic Distinctions
Citation from Congrès National des Italo-Canadiens, 2007
Fulbright Association of New Jersey, Honorary Trustee, 2007
American Academy in Rome, Rome Prize Juror, 2006-2007
Outstanding Ethnic Leader, New Jersey Heritage Festival, 2006
Sacrilege and Redemption in Renaissance Florence: The Case of Antonio Rinaldeschi (with Giles Constable). (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2005)
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince with Related Documents. Bedford Series in History and Culture. Translation with introduction and commentary (Bedford /St. Martin’s, 2005)
Mille Grazie Award, UNICO National, 2004
Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence (University of California Press, 2002)
