09/09/2026
Congratulations Rachel!
Congratulations to Rachel Midura, associate professor of history, on receiving the inaugural Michael J. B. Allen Prize for the Best Book in Italian Renaissance Studies for “Postal Intelligence: The Tassis Family and Communications Revolution in Early Modern Europe.” The award is presented by The Renaissance Society of America.
Midura’s book, published in 2025, explores the connections between the post, government intelligence, print technology, and state power during the early modern communications revolution.
“Our own world has been rapidly transformed by communications revolution,” she said. “There are headlines every day that call it unprecedented, but early modern postal networks were a very close equivalent. Globalization has always been both a force of progress and the cause of ‘troubled times.’ I think this history helps us to understand both our own lived experience and the changes to an existing social and political order.”
Midura said the research was nearly a decade in the making.
“I am honored by the recognition and grateful to the organization, the Renaissance Society of America, which has supported the project from the outset,” she said. “As I tell my students, all historical work is collaborative, and I couldn't ask for a better community of support.”
Learn more about her book: https://lnkd.in/gBCvDrBg
