# Gianluca Fantoni, "Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers: A History of the Jewish Brigade" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2026) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327/gianluca-fantoni-soldiers-angels-and-avengers-a-history-of-the-jewish-brigade-mcgill-queen-s-up-2026 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327/gianluca-fantoni-soldiers-angels-and-avengers-a-history-of-the-jewish-brigade-mcgill-queen-s-up-2026.md Podcast: [New Books in Jewish Studies](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327) Published: 2026-08-07T08:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK1613827785.mp3 Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK1613827785.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327/episodes/gianluca-fantoni-soldiers-angels-and-avengers-a-history-of-the-jewish-brigade-mcgill-queen-s-up-2026 Duration seconds: 3918 ## Resource Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers: A History of the Jewish Brigade (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2026) tells the compelling story of the Jewish Brigade Infantry Group (JBG), a five-thousand-strong military unit, recruited primarily from the Jewish population of Palestine, and the only exclusively Jewish military unit to fight under the British flag during the Second World War. Gianluca Fantoni reconstructs the military and human experience of the brigade in Italy and investigates its enduring and controversial place in memory and public debate. Formed in 1944, the JBG saw combat in the final stages of the Italian campaign, where its soldiers fought with distinction against German forces. After the war, many of its members – who often had little or no military training, and included artists, scientists, and farmers – engaged in clandestine efforts to smuggle Holocaust survivors and weapons into Palestine, laying the groundwork for the future Israeli state. Others sought retribution against Nazis and collaborators in acts that revealed both the trauma of genocide and the desire for justice. Far more than a conventional military history, Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers is both a critical study of the political uses of history and a vivid, passionate narrative that brings to life the men and women of the brigade. Accessible and engaging, this book offers readers a rare lens through which to understand the intersections of war, memory, and politics in twentieth-century Europe. Roberto Mazza is currently a visiting scholar at the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University. He is the host of the Jerusalem Unplugged Podcast and to discuss and propose a book for interview can be reached at robbymazza@gmail.com. Blusky and IG: @robbyref Support ou… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327/episodes/gianluca-fantoni-soldiers-angels-and-avengers-a-history-of-the-jewish-brigade-mcgill-queen-s-up-2026/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-jewish-studies-313327/gianluca-fantoni-soldiers-angels-and-avengers-a-history-of-the-jewish-brigade-mcgill-queen-s-up-2026.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.