In their monograph Born in Flames, Bench Ansfield, Assistant Professor of History, examines the fascinating and devastating history of fires in the Bronx during the 1970s and 1980s. The book investigates landlord abuses, transatlantic insurance fraud, and the artistic practices that resisted, and rose from, the ashes of destroyed housing spaces. While speaking at the October 28 book launch event in Mazur Hall, Ansfield joked that “studying insurance practices isn’t sexy.” We beg to differ.

Their talk traced how landlords set their own buildings ablaze, the limited resources tenants faced in seeking new housing or justice, and the surprising ways insurance firms restricted access to archival materials, depending on, as Ansfield quipped, “whether they were the good guys or the bad guys.”

Speaking to a packed room of more than 30 people, Ansfield engaged undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty in a rich discussion about how this project took shape and the challenges it presented over the past decade. They also signed copies, with their special signing pen, and continued the conversation at a reception co-hosted by the Center for the Humanities at Temple and the Department of History.

Since its release, Born in Flames has received glowing praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker and Kirkus Reviews​​​​​​, among other publications. They are currently teaching in the Honors program and actively developing courses on topics such as the carceral state.