WO History Professor Maureen Santelli Co-Authors Book

Professor Maureen Santelli has co-authored a book – Bouboulina and the Greek Revolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Heroine of 1821 (Lexington Books). Using a variety of methodologies from multi-disciplinary backgrounds, this volume is the first to present an in-depth analysis of the life and times of Laskarina Bouboulina. At the age of fifty and mother to ten children, Bouboulina commanded a fleet of ships from the island of Spetses, and became the first female admiral in world naval history. But her success on the battlefield is only part of the story – by considering her three-century impact on feminism, cultural production, and as a touchstone of diasporic Greek identity, the contributors to this volume also expand our understanding of her far-reaching and under-recognized contributions.

Santelli’s contribution expands on her book The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor in the Age of Revolutions (Cornell UP, 2020) to locate Bouboulina in early American documents. Frequently referred to as “The Greek Heroine,” American Philhellenes admired Bouboulina’s patriotism and heroism, but the fact that she served in a leadership role and actively engaged in naval battle did not fit with accepted early American standards of feminine behavior. How did American women, having undergone their own revolution, react to Bouboulina, and how was she presented in early American newspapers?

Boubouina and the Greek Revolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Heroine of 1821 was published this summer by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield.

Submitted by:
Maureen Santelli, WO-History, MSantelli@nvcc.edu