Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat, www.ruthbenghiat.com) is Professor of Italian Studies and History at New York University and an associate researcher at the Institut d’Histoire du Temps Présent. 

Her seven books and dozens of essays on 20th century international, political, and cultural history has been supported by Guggenheim, Getty, Fulbright, Library of Congress, NEH, and other fellowships.

Her latest books are the award-winning Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema (Indiana, 2015), a study of the meeting of war and film in the service of Mussolini’s imperial conquests, and the co-edited Italian Mobilities (Routledge), which discusses migration (including the current crisis), emigration, citizenship, and the security state. She is currently writing Prisoners of War: Italians in German, French, and British Captivity, 1940-1950, for Princeton University Press.

She also comments on politics, culture, and history for Cnn.com and The Huffington Post. Her multi-media series for the centenary of WWI, which appeared in Cnn.com from June-November 2014, was inspired in part by her interest in using digital media for public education. She sits on the Board of Directors of the World Policy Institute.