Associate Professor of World Languages and Literatures, Jaime Leaños, recently published his latest book, West Meets East: Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II): Epistle to Mehmet II. His latest title looks at the similarities between the political climate in the 14th century and the political environment today.
The novel compares a 15th century letter from Pope Pius II to present time political rhetoric. Leaños' research on Piccolomini and the crusade against the Ottoman Empire is said to benefit scholars interested in political-religious intersections.
This is Leaños' second book; his first book published in 2007, is a Spanish title translated, Piccolomini in Iberia: Italian Influences on the Genesis of the Spanish Sentimental Novel. After nearly 10 years of research and four years of writing, Leaños finished his second composition. He was fortunate to conduct some of his research in a Tuscan region of Italy (Piccolomini's birthplace) as part of a junior faculty grant.
"Ever since graduate school at the University of Arizona, I have been fascinated with the life of one of the most revered humanist of the 15th century," said Leaños.
