Rudolph M. Bell, professor of history at Rutgers University, is the author of a number of books in Italian history, among them"Fate and Honor, Family and Village: Demographic and Cultural Change in Rural Italy Since 1800, H""oly Anorexia", "How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians, " and "The Voices of Gemma Galgani: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Saint" (with Cristina Mazzoni)", "all published by the University of Chicago Press.