Victoria de Grazia’s intellectual and scholarly interests lie in the study of power, specifically, the intersection of force and persuasion or hard and soft power, and how these mesh differently under liberal and authoritarian systems of rule. Browse her recent projects, publications, and syllabi below.
Journal Articles
“Recalling Pavone; Writing ‘Moral History,’” Parole-Chiave, 1-2 (2019) 137-143.
“Cultures of War or Warlike Culture,” Review: John Dower, Cultures of War. H-Diplo Roundtable Review Volume XIII, No. 1 (2011) 1 September 2011.
“Atlantic Crossings: Close Encounters of What Kind? Roundtable,” American Studies Journal, 44 (Winter 1999/Spring 2000), 52-54.
“Old Tropes in New Bottles,” French Politics and Society, Double Issue, Summer, 1995.
“Beyond Time and Money,” International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 43 (Spring 1993) pp. 24-30.
“Leisure and Citizenship: Historical Perspectives,” Leisure and New Citizenship, Ocio y Nueva Ciudadania, Aisia eta Hiritartasuna, Acts, VIII Congress, European Leisure and Recreation Association, Bilbao, 9-14 June 1992.
“Americanism for Export,” Wedge, 7-8 (Winter-Spring 1985) 74-81. Also translated into Italian in Critica Sociologica, 59, Fall-Winter, 1984.
“Film History, Italian Style,” American Film, July-August, 1983, 54-55.
“For a social history of politics,” Radical History Review, 23 (Winter, l980), pp. 2-7.
“La Taylorisation des loisirs ouvriers,” Recherches, 32-33 (September, l978) pp. 209-248 (French trans.).
“Un comme che si chiama New York,” Politica e societa I, 2 (October, 1976).
“You are not alone, Stalingrad: Reflections on the 75th Anniversary,” Raritan, 37, 3, (Winter 2018) 1- 27.
“A European Road Trip,” Raritan Quarterly, Winter, 2007
“Americanization and Europeanization,” in Bolletino de Centros Estudios Europeos, Havana, Cuba, 2002.
“The Radicalization of Population Politics in Fascist Italy: Mussolini's ‘Racial State,’” Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 2000.
“Il passato che pareva passato,” with Ida Dominianni, Il Manifesto, 20 April, 1994.
“Story of an Ordinary Massacre: Civitella, June 29, 1944,” with L. Paggi, Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 3, 1 (Jan.1992) 1-45.
“Mass Culture and Sovereignty: The American Challenge to European Cinemas,” Journal of Modern History, 61, 1 (March, 1989) 53-87.
“Alle origini della cultura di massa: cultura popolare e fascismo in Italia,” with Luisa Passerini, Ricerca folklorica #7 (Summer, 1983), 19-25.
“Una donna del regime: Margherita Sarfatti,” Memoria, rivista di storia delle donne, 4 (l982), 149-154.
“Women and Communism in Advanced Capitalist Societies: Readings and Resources,” Radical History Review, 23 (Winter, l980), pp. 76-93.
“La taylorizzazione del tempo libero operaio nel regime fascista,” Studi storici, XIX, 2 (April-June, l978) pp. 332-366.
Book Chapters
“The Crisis of Hyper-Consumerism: Capitalism's Latest Forward Lurch” in Capitalism: The Reemergence of a Historical Concept, edited by Jurgen Kocka and Marcel van der Linden, 71-106. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
Preface, Selling Modernity: Advertising and Marketing in 20th Century Germany, P. Swett, J. Weisen, and J. Zatlin, eds, Durham Duke University Press, 2007.
“Changing Consumption Regimes in Europe, 1930-70, Comparative Perspectives on the Distribution Problem,” S. Strasser et al, Getting and Spending: Comparative Perspectives on Consumer Culture, German Historical Institute and Cambridge University Press, 1998.
“Amerikanisierung und wechselnde Leitbilder der Konsum-Moderne in Europa,” in H. Siegrist, H. Kaelble, and G Kocka, eds., Europaische Konsumgesellschaft, Frankfurt: Compas, 1997, 109-38.
“The Arts of Purchase: How U.S. Advertising subverted the European Poster,” in Remaking History (DIA Art Foundation: Discussions in Contemporary Culture, #4) Seattle: Bay Press, 1989, 221-257. Italian translation: in M. Vaudagna and P. D'Attore, eds. Nemici per la pelle, Milan: Franco Angeli, 1991.
“The Exception Proves the Rule: The American Example in the Recasting of Socialist Stratgies in Interwar Europe,” in Pourquoi n'y a t-il pas de socialisme aux Etats-Unis? Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociale, 1987, 167-192.
“La Politique sociale du loisir: 1900-1940,” Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale 4 15 17 (January-April, 1985) 24-35.
“Disciplina del lavoro e mediazione sociale sotto il regime fascista: le funzioni del dopolavoro nell'organizzazione del lavoro,” Annali Feltrinelli, Volume XX (Milan, l981). pp. 169-188.
“Visualizing the Marshall Plan: The Pleasures of American Consumer Democracy or the Pains of the Greatest Structural Adjustment Program in History?” in Images of the Marshall Plan in Europe, ed. Gunter Bischof and Dieter Stiefel, Vienna: StudienVerlag, 2009.
“Globalizing Commercial Revolutions,” in Budde, Conrad and Janz, editors Transnationale Geschichte. Themen, Tendenzen und Theorien. Göttingen 2006. 238-253.
“European Cinema and the Idea of Europe,” Hollywood vs European Cinema, ed. Geoffrey Nowell Smith and Steven Ricci, British Film Institute and University of Indiana University Press, 1998, 19-34.
“The Challenge of American Advertising Arts in 1920s Europe,” Catalogue: L'Age des Metropôles, les années 20s, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1991.
“Fascist Patriarchy: How fascist ruled women in Italy” in Vol. 5, Storia delle Donne eds. Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot, Bari and Rome: Laterza, May, 1991. (Also featured in English, French, Spanish, and German, Dutch, Japanese editions.)
“Afterword,” Vasco Pratolini, A Tale of Poor Lovers, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1988, 385-405.
“Associazione, consenso nello sviluppo e crisi dello stato assistenziale,” in Trasformazione e crisi del Welfare State, ed. E. Fano. S. Rodota, G. Marramao, Bari: De Donato, 1984, 285-291.
“Cinema e sovranita: la sfida dello 'star system' nella formazione della culture di massa in Europa,” Quaderni Storici, 58 (April 1985) 95-133.
“Culturale popolare negli anni del fasciamo,” Italia Contemporanea (December 1984) 63-90. With D. Galiani, L. Casali et alia.
“Verso una storia sociale del dominio fascista: l'organizzazione del dopolavoro,” Cultura operaia e disciplina industriale: Vol VI.: Annali della Fondazione. Lelio e Lisli Basso-Issoco, Rome: 1982, 333-353.
Book Reviews
“Cultures of War or Warlike Culture,” Review: John Dower, Cultures of War. H-Diplo Roundtable Review Volume XIII, No. 1 (2011) 1 September 2011
Review: Tracy H. Koon, Believe, Obey, Fight: Political Socialization of Youth in Fascist Italy, 1922-1943. The Journal of Modern History Vo. 6, No. 1 (March 1988), 177–179.
“Heartless Haven,” Review: C. Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland. The Nation, April 18, 1987, 508-510.
Review: UDI: Laboratorio politico delle donne (M. Michetti et alia) Journal of Modern History, 59, 2 (June 1987) 396-398.
Review: The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism (David M.Roberts) Journal of Modern History, Fall, l980, 542-545.
Op-Eds and Journalistic Publications
“What We Don’t Understand About Fascism,” Zócalo, August 13, 2020.
“The Selling of America, Bush Style,” The New York Times, August 25, 2002.
“Will Il Duce's Successors Make the Facts Run on Time?” The New York Times, May 14, 1994.
“A Media King Becomes Prime Minister (again),” History News Service, May 16, 2001.
“Feminist Studies,” Rinascita, August 2, 1979.
Encyclopedia Entries
Entries: “andare al popolo,” “consumo,” “dopolavoro,” “patriarcato fascista,” “Rotary,” in Dizionario del Fascismo, edited by Victoria de Grazia and Sergio Luzzatto, Einaudi: Turin, 2 vols, 2002-2003.
Entry: “History of Consumption,” International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Oxford: Elsevier, 2001.
Entries: “Fascist Youth Organizations,” “Fascist Women's Organizations,” “Dopolavoro,” Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy, ed. P.V. Cannistraro, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, l982. pp. l75-l79; 202-204; 569-573.
Conference Papers
“The Left Labour Movement and the Problem of Worker Leisure, 1918-1939,” International Tagung der Historiker der Arbeiterbewegung. 16 Linzer Konferenz 1980 Vienna, Europaverlag, 1982, 165-181.
“Report Back” (Review of MARHO Conference), History Workshop 4 (Autumn, l977) pp. 236-238.
Teaching
Soft Power in Historical Perspective: Cases from Napoleon to the Present (Spring 2018)
History of Soft Power in the U.S. and Europe (Spring 2014 & 2015)
Communications and Empire, with Professor Richard John, Department of History and School of Journalism (Spring 2013)
Communications and Empire since 1815 (Fall 2012)
History of Commercial Revolutions, 18th century to the Present (Fall 2010)
Empires and Imperialism, with Professor William Harris, Department of History (Spring 2009)
Approaches To International and Global History (Fall 2016)
Europe since 1945: from the Nazi New Order to the European Union (Fall 2014)
Italy in the Wider World (Fall 2013)
Global Scholars Program: Inaugural Year: Reid Hall, Columbia Global Centers Paris: Middle Classes in Global Perspective (Spring & Summer 2012)
Cold War in the Mediterranean (Spring 2010)
Technologies of Empire, with Professor Lydia Liu, Comparative Literature and EALAC Departments (Spring 2010)
Globalizing American Consumer Culture (Fall 2009)