In her insightful first book, My Roman History: A Memoir, Alizah Holstein explores the scope of Rome's past and her deep connection to it. Holstein, who fell in love with Rome as a high school student reading Dante, chronicles the ways her life has orbited around the Eternal City and how she has found herself drawn back to it again.
In spite of her affinity for the city, Holstein has no particular ties to Rome, except the ones she has created. As a colleague reminds her, she will never be from Rome, though she feels she is somehow of it. She recalls the history teachers who first made the city come alive for her, and the rock-climbing comrades who became her true Roman community. The narrative captures details of Holstein's visits to Rome: the small blue bedroom she rented in Trastevere; countless hours bent over medieval texts in archives; the layers of flavor and memory wrapped up in her first tartufo cioccolato.
As a historian, Holstein focused on medieval Rome, and she also charts her research work, her dissertation process, and her efforts to build an academic career before finally deciding to "become someone else." Though she leaves academia behind, Holstein finds she can't quite quit Rome: she returns, again, to revisit beloved haunts and reckon with the feelings the city inspires in her. My Roman History is a winding, lyrical journey through the streets of an ancient city and through Holstein's continual effort to find herself there. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams