New York, NY — September 23, 2025 — Casa Carlini today announced the launch of Storia, a new publishing imprint dedicated to history. Named after the Italian word for “History,” Storia will serve as the home for works that illuminate turning points, overlooked narratives, and the complexities of global power. One of its flagship initiatives will be the Strongmen Series, a bold exploration of the lives and legacies of the twentieth century’s most notorious authoritarian leaders.
The series will debut in spring 2026 with volumes on Augusto Pinochet of Chile and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina, two figures whose regimes left indelible marks on their nations and the world. Future titles will focus on Rafael Trujillo, Fidel Castro, Idi Amin, and Mao Zedong, among others.
What sets the Strongmen Series apart is its method. Each book is built entirely around interviews. This choice is deliberate. Videla’s dictatorship, for example, is already documented in archives, court records, and historical studies. But what is often missing is the human voice: the immediacy of lived experience, the insight of scholars who have devoted their lives to the subject, and the moral force of testimony.
By weaving together conversations with historians, journalists, and witnesses, each volume reconstructs the ideology, machinery, and human toll of dictatorship. The result is both rigorous analysis and a chorus of personal accounts that bring history to life.
“With the Strongmen Series, we’re not only chronicling the lives of authoritarian rulers, but also asking how ordinary people become entangled in their orbits, and how their legacies still reverberate today,” said Charles Carlini, Publisher of Casa Carlini. “History is never just about the past. By studying these figures, we gain sharper insight into the present.”
Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentine military leaderThe first title, Videla, will examine Argentina’s military dictatorship, which from 1976 to 1981 presided over one of Latin America’s darkest chapters. Through the perspectives of survivors, activists, and scholars, the book explores the junta’s ideology, its network of repression, and the enduring scars on Argentine society.
Pinochet, the companion volume, traces the rise and rule of Chile’s most infamous general, whose 1973 coup ushered in a dictatorship lasting nearly two decades. Testimony from Chileans, journalists, and scholars captures both the machinery of authoritarianism and the lived reality of those who suffered under it.
Chilean dictator Augusto PinochetFuture volumes will extend beyond Latin America. A study of Rafael Trujillo will confront the violence and cult of personality that defined the Dominican Republic for over three decades. A volume on Fidel Castro will wrestle with the paradoxes of revolutionary charisma and repression. Idi Amin’s Uganda will be dissected through survivor testimony and analysis, while Mao Zedong’s China will be revisited through the voices of scholars and witnesses grappling with his immense legacy.
The Strongmen Series is not only about the rulers themselves, but also about the societies they shaped and scarred. By centering testimony, the series underscores that history is not solely written by the powerful. It is carried in memory, in the words of those who endured and resisted, and in the insistence that silence not prevail.
Storia, Casa Carlini’s new history imprint, embodies this vision. Its name—Italian for “History”—signals both a grounding in the past and a recognition of history’s global resonance. Storia will publish works that combine intellectual rigor with accessibility, bringing narratives that remind us why history matters.
The first two titles in the Strongmen Series—Pinochet and Videla—are slated for release in April 2026, with additional volumes to follow later in the year.
About Casa Carlini
Casa Carlini is an independent publishing house dedicated to thought-provoking works across literature, history, philosophy, biography, and beyond. Its imprints include Poetica, Q, Vita, Thrive, and Storia, among others.
0 comments