Senior Scholar Citation

The Society for Italian Historical Studies is delighted to recognize the contributions of Marla Stone, Professor of History at Occidental College, to the study of Italian history. For over three decades, Professor Stone has been one of the most important scholars of the history and culture of modern Italy and Europe, with a particular focus on the Fascist era and its manifold legacies. The Patron State: Culture and Politics in Fascist Italy (Princeton University Press, 1998), which received the SIHS Marraro Prize in 2000, was a groundbreaking study of the complexities of cultural production under Mussolini and helped launch a wave of culturalist historiography that has reshaped our field for a generation. Her 2012 book and source collection The Fascist Revolution: Society, Politics, and Culture in Mussolini’s Italy (Bedford St. Martin’s) provided an essential tool for teachers of Italian Fascism and modern European history. She has also published extensively on topics ranging from German reunification to anti-Communism (the subject of her forthcoming book) to the contemporary American right. She is the recipient of numerous national and international fellowships, including to the American Academy in Rome (1995-1996), the Wolfsonian Foundation (1995 and 2024), the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University (2007), the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2011-2012) and the Fernand Braudel Fellowship at the European University Institute (2017). She is also a Fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

 

In addition to her achievements as a scholar and her dedicated teaching at Occidental College, Professor Stone has been a vital leader in our profession. She was SIHS Vice-President from 2017 to 2019 and President from 2019 to 2021, steering the Society through the pandemic and spearheading our first-ever standalone conference at Columbia University. From 2021 to 2023, she was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at the American Academy in Rome. She is on the editorial boards of California Italian Studies and The New Fascism Syllabus digital humanities project and previously served as the Chair of the Research Network on the Historical Study of States and Regimes for the Council for European Studies. Her commitments extend beyond higher education, with leadership roles in the ACLU of Southern California and other human rights organizations, as well as numerous appearances in documentaries and news media. This senior scholar citation celebrates Marla Stone’s many professional achievements, her tireless promotion of Italian history in the academy and the public arena, and her wise and generous mentorship to emerging scholars.