Reviews
2026
“Un vertiginoso abisso di menzogne.” Review of Lincoln, Bruce (2026). Omicidio all’università. Mircea Eliade e il suo passato nascosto. Bologna: il Mulino. Originally published in 2024 as Secrets, Lies, and Consequences: A Great Scholar's Hidden Past and his Protégé's Unsolved Murder. New York: Oxford University Press. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese XLIII (9): 22.
“Victory Parade, il graphic novel in cui sfilano i fantasmi del ’45.” Review of Corman, Leela (2024). Victory Parade. New York: Schocken Books. L’Indice della Settimana, 21 June: xv. https://www.italypost.it/news/indice/7347/victory-parade-il-graphic-novel-in-cui-sfilano-i-fantasmi-del-45.html
“Dinosauri eretici. Clamori mediatici e storture ideologiche da Jurassic Park a oggi.” Review of Cau, Andrea (2025). Il dilemma dei dinosauri. Fisiologia, ideologia e paleontologia. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese XLIII (6): 13. https://www.lindiceonline.com/articles/7820a728-8385-402b-874a-cee823586e98
Elliott, Colin (2024). Pox Romana: The Plague That Shook the Roman World. (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press). BASR Bulletin 148 (May): 19-20. https://basr.ac.uk/2026/05/21/basr-bulletin-148-may-2026/
“L’insostenibile leggerezza dei sequel.” Review of Nucci, Marco & Cristian Canfailla (2025). Topolino e… La Leggenda della Spada di Ghiaccio. Modena: Panini Comics. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese XLIII (4): 56. https://www.lindiceonline.com/articles/e9e90000-815e-401d-946f-059d4767fd99
“Diventare superdèi: Verità, giustizia ed ermetismo rinascimentale nell’All-Star Superman di Grant Morrison e Frank Quitely.” Review of Morrison, Grant & Frank Quitely (2025 [2005-2008]). All-Star Superman (DC Comics). L’Indice della Settimana, 8 March: xi. https://www.italypost.it/news/indice/3009/diventare-superdei.html
“The Bizarro World of Eliadology: Notes on Gabriel Badea’s Mircea Eliade, între tradiţionalism şi modernism. Posteritatea critică în Italia (2022).” Review of Badea, Gabriel (2022). Mircea Eliade, între tradiţionalism şi modernism. Posteritatea critică în Italia (Bucharest: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti). Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 91(2): 753-787.
“La filologia pop di X-Men ’97. Una parabola amara che deve ancora concludersi.” Review of X-Men ’97 (Marvel Animation/Disney, USA 2024). L’Indice della Settimana, 25 January: ix. https://www.italypost.it/news/indice/1265/la-filologia-pop-di-x-men-97-una-parabola-amara-che-deve-ancora-chiudersi.html?id=0
2025
“Si può separare l’arte dall’artista?” Review of Dederer, Claire (2023). Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (US edition). New York: Knopf / Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People? (UK edition). London: Sceptre. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 42(3): 35. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/marzo-2025/
“Credenze vecchie e nuove: La rivoluzione della storiografia cognitivista tra zombie, Greci e Romani.” Review of Mackey, Jacob L. (2022). Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press). L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 42(1): 14. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/gennaio-2025/
2024
Roubekas, Nickolas (2022). The Study of Greek and Roman Religions: Insularity and Assimilation (London and New York: Bloomsbury). BASR Bulletin 145 (November): 25-28. https://basr.ac.uk/2024/11/13/basr-bulletin-145-november-2024/
“I barbari, le principesse e i mostri i Barry Windsor-Smith. Quando l’arte dei preraffaelliti incontra i fumetti Marvel.” Review of Windsor-Smith, Barry (2021). Monsters (London: Jonathan Cape). L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 41(11): 8. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/novembre-2024/
“La scomoda eredità del maestro del thriller tecnologico Michael Crichton: vulcani, machismo e anti-ambientalismo.” Review of Crichton, M. and J. Patterson (2024). Eruption (Boston and New York: Little, Brown and Company). L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 41(9): 13. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/settembre-2024/
“Hollywood brucia. Declino e caduta dell’impero di celluloide tra scioperi, scandali e intelligenza artificiale.” Review of Ryan, M. (2023). Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood (New York and Boston: Mariner Books). L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 41(1): 16. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/gennaio-2024/
2023
“Alan Moore racconta i supereroi tra populismo e nostalgie infantili. Il lato oscuro del fumetto made in Usa.” Review of Alan Moore, Illuminations, London & New York: Bloomsbury. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40 (11): 11. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/novembre-2023/
“I dolori del giovane Parker. Sessant’anni di Uomo Ragno: come nasce una mitologia a fumetti.” Review of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (2022), The Amazing Spider-Man. Foreword by Jason Reynolds, Introduction by Ben Saunders. London: Penguin Classics Marvel Collection. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40 (7-8): 6. https://www.lindiceonline.com/arti/fumetti/sessantanni-di-uomo-ragno-come-nasce-una-mitologia-pop-a-fumetti/
“L’Homo fictus di Jonathan Gottschall e la decostruzione della storiografia.” Review of Gottschall, J. (2022). Il lato oscuro delle storie. Come lo storytelling cementa le civiltà e talvolta le distrugge. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2021 as The Story Paradox: How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down. New York: Hachette. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 40(1): 10. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/indice-sommario-gennaio/
“Quando Jurassic Park incontra il Far West”. Review of Crichton, M. (2018). I cercatori di ossa. Translated by D. Comerlati. Milan: Garzanti. Originally published in 2017 as Dragon Teeth. London: HarperCollins. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 36(3): 21. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/marzo-2019/
2019
“The Persistence of a Delusion.” Review of Conversations and Controversies in the Scientific Study of Religion: Collaborative and Co-authored Essays by Luther H. Martin and Donald Wiebe, edited by L. H. Martin and D. Wiebe. Leiden and Boston: Brill. Endeavour 41(3): 71-72. https://doi.org/j.endeavour.2017.04.006
“Post-verità, fede e scienza.” Review of Coyne, J. A. (2016). O scienza o religione: Perché la fede è incompatibile coi fatti. Translated by O. Cavagnino. Rome: Nessun Dogma. Originally published in 2015 as Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible. New York: Random House. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese 34(6): 5. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/giugno-2017/
2017
2016
Slone, D. J. and J. A. van Slyke (eds.) (2015). The Attraction of Religion: A New Evolutionary Psychology of Religion. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Science, Religion & Culture 3(1): 55-57. http://researcherslinks.com/current-issues/D-Jason-Slone-and-James-A-Van-Slyke-The-Attraction-of-Religion-A-New-Evolutionary-Psychology-of-Religion-Scientific-Studies-of-Religion-Inquiry-and-Explanation-London-and-New-York-Bloomsbury-2015/9/7/261 [PDF]
“Il Fight Club della scimmia.” Review of Gottschall, J. (2015). Il professore sul ring. Perché gli uomini combattono e a noi piace guardarli. Translated by G. Olivero. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2015 as The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch. New York: Penguin Press. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese (33)12: 41. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/sommario-dicembre-2016/
“Una disciplina fittizia?” Review of McGrath, A. (2015). La grande domanda. Perché non si può fare a meno di parlare di scienza, di fede e di Dio. Translated by S. Placidi. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri. Originally published in 2015 as Inventing the Universe: Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Science, Faith and God. London: Hodder & Stoughton. L’Indice dei Libri del Mese (33)5: 31. https://www.lindiceonline.com/l-indice/sommario/maggio-2016/
Martin, L. H. (2015). The Mind of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Journal of Cognitive Historiography 3(1-2): 204-207. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.33929
Martin, L. H. (2014). Deep History, Secular Theory: Historical and Scientific Studies of Religion. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter. Journal of Cognitive Historiography 3(1-2): 201-203. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.33928
2015
Jensen, J. S. (2014). What Is Religion? London and New York: Routledge. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (2)2: 169-173. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v2i2.26394 [PDF]
Mastrocinque, A. (2014). Bona Dea and the Cults of Roman Women. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal (16)1: 110-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2014.1001626 [PDF]
Xygalatas, D. and W. W. McCorkle Jr. (eds.) (2013). Mental Culture: Classical Social Theory and the Cognitive Science of Religion. London and New York: Routledge. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (2)1: 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v2i1.67 [PDF]
2014
Wedemeyer, C. K. and W. Doniger (eds.) (2010). Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions: The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle religioni (77)1: 253-260.
2011
Oişteanu, A. (2010). Narcotice în cultura română. Istorie, religie şi literatură. Ediţia ilustrată. Iaşi: Polirom. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)2: 630-634. Updated version published in Romanian: “Narcotice şi halucinogene în cultura română”. Viaţa românească 11-12(2011): 173-177.
Eliade, M. (2009). Diario portoghese. Milan: Jaca Book. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)2: 605-609.
Eliade, M. (2009). Saggio sulle origini della mistica indiana. Turin: Lindau. Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (76)1: 289-292.