{"id":31284,"date":"2026-04-07T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=31284"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:20:28","slug":"art-history-faculty-release-two-new-books-on-the-crusades-american-historical-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/art-history-faculty-release-two-new-books-on-the-crusades-american-historical-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Art History faculty release new books on the Crusades, American historical narratives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Book and art lovers, there is exciting news ahead: Two faculty members in UWM\u2019s Art History Department have new books set to release this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Associate Professor Richard Leson is the co-author of <em>Encounters: The Crusades in 50 Objects<\/em>, a book for general audiences that explores the Holy Wars through the lens of artifacts like illuminated manuscripts, fragments of castles, and even drinking cups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Associate Professor Kay Wells\u2019 new book is titled <em>Uncanny Revivals: Designing an American Identity<\/em> and argues that key pieces of 20<sup>th<\/sup> century American art cultivated a national identity that portrayed society as affluent and white \u2013 leaving many people out of the country\u2019s cultural narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each sat down to talk about their work ahead of their book\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading size-h4\" id=\"h-encounters-the-crusades-in-50-objects\"><strong><em>Encounters: The Crusades in 50 Objects<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Crusades were a series of violent conflicts that took place over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. European rulers and Popes sent armies to recapture Jerusalem\u2014the city they regarded as the center of the world\u2014from Muslim control. Both the Crusaders and those they regarded as their enemies \u2013 the Jewish and Muslim peoples living in the \u201cHoly Land\u201d \u2013 left behind artifacts that form the basis of Leson\u2019s new book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignleft uwm-c-img--left uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"257\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Richard-Leson-257x300.webp\" alt=\"A middle-aged white man sits in an office, holding a golden cup in his hands.\" class=\"wp-image-31286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Richard-Leson-257x300.webp 257w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Richard-Leson.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 257px) 100vw, 257px\" \/><figcaption>Richard Leson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Leson is a Medieval art historian with expertise in Crusade studies. The book, a joint venture between several historians and archaeologists, covers a mix of \u201cknown\u201d objects and artifacts that have never been published before. Each entry provides in-depth analysis about what the object can tell us about the time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating to think about these objects, not only in terms of their function and their symbolic significance, but also just their material qualities, and what it would have taken to make these objects at that time,\u201d Leson said. \u201cIt leads us to an image of the Middle Ages which is more global, more cosmopolitan than we typically allow for in the popular imagination. That, I think, is something that comes through in many of the entries in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignright uwm-c-img--right uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"85\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-embroidery-300x85.webp\" alt=\"An image of a red cloth embroidered with golden vines on either end of the cloth. In the middle is an embroidered image of two angels looking toward a central holy figure while a small knight prays at the figure's feet.\" class=\"wp-image-31287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-embroidery-300x85.webp 300w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-embroidery.webp 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Embroidery known as the Grandson antependium. Cypriot and English, ca. 1300. This piece is included in Leson&#8217;s new book. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, one entry looks at a piece of embroidery purchased by a crusader named Otto de Grandson from Savoy. The piece was made using embroidery techniques from Cyprus, and someone later extended the piece with panels made using an embroidery technique from England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As people read the book, Leson hopes that they look beyond the historical accounts of the Crusades and think about the ordinary people who used these objects as part of their daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLife in those places conquered by the crusaders wasn\u2019t violent every single day, and people of all different creeds and colors lived together and tried to make do as best they could. There was an awful lot in the way of cultural, linguistic, material, and visual exchange,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Leson\u2019s favorite pieces in the book is one he\u2019s written about extensively: A cup excavated from the ruins of a church in Syria in 1980. The inside of its basin is engraved with 11 different heraldic shields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignright uwm-c-img--right uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"253\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-heraldic-cup-300x253.webp\" alt=\"The inside of a metal drinking cup is shown engraved with images of heraldic shields.\" class=\"wp-image-31288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-heraldic-cup-300x253.webp 300w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Leson-heraldic-cup.webp 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Silver-gilt drinking cup with heraldic engravings. French, ca. 1200.\u00a0This piece is included in Leson&#8217;s new book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou would drink, and then these shields would appear beneath the wine,\u201d Leson said. \u201cBut the point of these cups is that you don\u2019t just drink it alone. You pass it around. \u2026 The cup is acting as a kind of agent to solidify the relations and commitments that these various actors have made to one another. It\u2019s that kind of object and that kind of dynamism that we wanted to capture in this book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This book may capture the interest of academics and students, but it\u2019s important for everyone to understand the cultural legacy of the Crusades, since that impact still resonates today. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently referred to America\u2019s campaign in Iran as a \u201choly war,\u201d for example, and many people use iconography from the Crusades to illustrate their political leanings. Leson hopes that his book will help people understand that the Crusades were more than the romanticized medieval battles depicted in Hollywood blockbusters, and that relations between Christians and non-Christians were more nuanced and complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat these objects individually demonstrate on a granular level are connections between different human beings made under circumstances far from ideal, circumstances that came about because of prejudices and greed and religious zealotry,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in many cases, these objects illustrate possibilities of community, coexistence, and even understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Encounters: The Crusades in 50 Objects <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Encounters-The-Crusades-in-50-Objects\/A-Fleck-A-Leson-Lapina-Ruth-Shotten\/p\/book\/9781032016726?_ga=undefined&amp;_gl=1*1w4t1f2*_gcl_au*MTc4Mzk4NzMxMS4xNzc1MTU4NTMw*_ga*MTU3MzQwNzM0MC4xNzc1MTU4NTMz*_ga_0HYE8YG0M6*czE3NzUxNTg1MzIkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzUxNTg1MzIkajYwJGwwJGgw\">will be available for pre-order<\/a> later in April and will be released in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading size-h4\" id=\"h-uncanny-revivals-designing-an-american-identity\"><strong><em>Uncanny Revivals: Designing an American Identity<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colonialwilliamsburg.org\/\">Colonial Williamsburg<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nga.gov\/artworks\/index-american-design\">Index of American Design<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/highlights\/12\/thorne-miniature-rooms\">Thorne Miniature Rooms<\/a> have in common?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignleft uwm-c-img--left uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"257\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Kay-Wells-257x300.webp\" alt=\"Headshot of a white woman with a blond pixie cut, smiling at the viewer.\" class=\"wp-image-31289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Kay-Wells-257x300.webp 257w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Kay-Wells.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 257px) 100vw, 257px\" \/><figcaption>Kay Wells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI argue that they all achieved this uncanny feeling of revival, of really making people feel like they could reach out and touch history,\u201d said Kay Wells. \u201c(They don\u2019t) encourage viewers to think of the politics of recounting history, and instead encourage people to experience history as an aesthetic kind of enjoyment. \u2026 That, in turns, helps naturalize the ideologies that that version of history is presenting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wells\u2019 book focuses on American art in the 1930s and 40s. During this time, she said, designers constructed Colonial Williamsburg as a living history village where visitors could explore their nation\u2019s founding by talking with costumed interpreters and touring replicas of buildings. During the Great Depression, the government\u2019s Works Progress Administration commissioned works for the Index of American Design, a collection of thousands of watercolor paintings of American folk objects. Narcissa Niblack Thorne created her miniature rooms in the 1930s as a visual history of interior design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignright uwm-c-img--right uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-Williamsburg-250x300.webp\" alt=\"A historical, black-and-white image of a parlor in Colonial Williamsburg historical village where two white ladies in colonial dresses sit while a Black man dressed as a servant pours tea.\" class=\"wp-image-31290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-Williamsburg-250x300.webp 250w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-Williamsburg.webp 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption>A scene from Colonial Williamsburg. Kay Wells notes that at the start of the historical reconstruction&#8217;s opening to the public, there was a clear divide in the roles for Black and white people that reinforced Jim Crow hierarchies. Image courtesy of Kay Wells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In each case, Wells argues in her book, the artists and patrons were deliberately cultivating an image of American culture and history. And in most cases, she noted, that image was one of white, middle-class prosperity. People of color were often marginalized or left out of the narrative altogether, while \u201creal\u201d white Americans embraced their proud history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, \u201cIn the case of Colonial Williamsburg, there\u2019s so much emphasis on showing the hierarchy between white people and Black people. White people are very visible in historic costumes, playing the role of aristocrats,\u201d Wells noted. \u201cBlack people are also very visible in historic costumes, but playing the roles of enslaved people. Showing that hierarchy as historically long-standing is a way to help naturalize that same hierarchy in the Jim Crow South.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And art from this time period wasn\u2019t just about race; it was also about class. Take the Thorne miniature rooms, for example. These tiny dioramas depict rooms from family homes and domestic scenes, but the scenes depict an upper-class lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re really putting their elite lifestyles on display through these rooms, but making them accessible to a mass audience. They were wildly popular,\u201d Wells said. \u201cIt\u2019s asking people to look at these rooms and imagine them as something they could live in or aspire to live in, but also to imagine them as something that their ancestors lived in. There\u2019s an invented tradition of \u2018gracious living.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wells gives many other examples throughout her book of how early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century American art crafted messages of belonging for a certain subset of Americans while ignoring others, and she hopes that her readers gain an understanding of the hidden, sometimes sneaky messages conveyed through art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"alignright uwm-c-img--right uwm-c-img--caption-gray\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-miniature-room-300x196.webp\" alt=\"A Thorne miniature room, showing crown molding, wood floors, a throw rug, fireplace, desk and chairs, and other decor of an upper-middle class room.\" class=\"wp-image-31291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-miniature-room-300x196.webp 300w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/04\/Wells-miniature-room.webp 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Thorne miniature rooms like the one shown above helped invent a tradition of &#8220;gracious living&#8221; in the American cultural narrative, said Kay Wells. Image courtesy of Kay Wells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese modes of oppression and hierarchies of power can manifest in many different ways. We need to understand not just how they came about or why they happen, but why they\u2019re so effective,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning those lessons is critical so that people can understand the political messages being conveyed in today\u2019s art. Who is included? Who is left out? What kind of narrative is being written about our cultural identity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Uncanny Revivals: Designing an American Identity <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/yalebooks.yale.edu\/book\/9780300282719\/uncanny-revivals\/\">is available for preorder<\/a> and will be released on April 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters &amp; Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book and art lovers, there is exciting news ahead: Two faculty members in UWM\u2019s Art History Department have new books set to release this spring. Associate Professor Richard Leson is the co-author of Encounters: The Crusades in 50 Objects, a &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":31285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1648,1961,1846],"tags":[1854],"class_list":["post-31284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2026","category-research-news","tag-april"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters &amp; Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/art-history-faculty-release-two-new-books-on-the-crusades-american-historical-narratives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Art History faculty release new books on the Crusades, American historical narratives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Book and art lovers, there is exciting news ahead: Two faculty members in UWM\u2019s Art History Department have new books set to release this spring. 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