CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT:
Professor Lauren Benton

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES:
Professor Greg Grandin

The Department of History offers master’s and doctoral programs with specializations in national, comparative, and transnational fields, including the history of Africa, African diaspora, Atlantic world, East Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and United States. There are joint Ph.D. programs in French history, through the Institute of French Studies; in Hebrew and Judaic studies and history, through the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies; and in history and Middle Eastern studies, with the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Students may choose to emphasize comparative or thematic approaches, either within their areas of specialization or as a second field.

The faculty is large, diverse, and distinguished. Their interests cover the spectrum of historical research, and no methodological or historiographical approach is favored or excluded. Though the graduate programs are built around colloquia and seminars within the department, they often include faculty from other departments as well as distinguished international visiting scholars.

Faculty

Karl Appuhn, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1999 (history), Northwestern; B.A. 1994 (history), California (San Diego).
Early modern Europe; environmental history.

Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak, Professor. Ph.D. 1977, Ecole Nationales des Chartes (Sorbonne).
Medieval history; France; prescholastic culture and society; sign theory; sigillography, diplomatics, and paleography.

Thomas Bender, Professor; University Professor of the Humanities. Ph.D. 1971 (history), M.A. 1967, California (Davis); B.A. 1966 (history), Santa Clara.
U.S. cultural history; 19th-century U.S. intellectuals; comparative study of cities.

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2000 (history), C.Phil. 1998 (history), M.A. 1997 (history), California (Los Angeles); B.A. 1991 (East Asian studies), Hebrew.
Chinese Muslim history.

Lauren Benton, Professor; Chair, Department of History, Ph.D. 1987 (anthropology and history), M.A. 1983 (anthropology), Johns Hopkins; B.A. 1978 (economics), Harvard.
Early modern Atlantic world.

Edward Berenson, Professor, History, French Studies; Director, Institute of French Studies. Ph.D. 1981 (history), Rochester; B.A. 1971 (history), Princeton.
Modern French social and cultural history; modern European history.

Jane Burbank, Professor, History, Russian and Slavic Studies. Ph.D. 1981, M.A. 1971, Harvard; M.L.S. 1969, Simmons College; B.A. 1967, Reed College.
Russian history; legal culture; imperial polities; peasants.

Herrick Chapman, Associate Professor, History, French Studies. Ph.D. 1983 (history), M.A. 1977 (history), California (Berkeley); M.P.A. 1972 (public and international affairs), B.A. 1971 (history), Princeton.
French history; social history; economic history.

Frederick Cooper, Professor. Ph.D. 1974, Yale; B.A. 1969, Stanford.
African history; colonization and decolonization; social sciences and the colonial world.

Hasia R. Diner, Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History; Professor, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, History. Ph.D. 1975 (history), Illinois; M.A.T. 1970 (history), Chicago; B.A. 1968 (history), Wisconsin.
American Jewish history; immigration-ethnic history; women’s history.

Nicole Eustace, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2001, Pennsylvania; B.A. 1994, Yale.
Eighteenth-century North America in the Atlantic world; gender, culture, and politics.

Ada Ferrer, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1995 (Latin American history), Michigan; M.A. 1988 (Latin American history), Texas (Austin); B.A. 1984 (English), Vassar College.
Latin America and Caribbean; Cuba; nationalism and independence.

K. Fleming, Associate Professor, History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Program in Hellenic Studies; Director, Center for European and Mediterranean Studies; Associate Director, Remarque Institute; Director, Alexander S. Onassis Program in Hellenic Studies. Ph.D. 1995 (history), California (Berkeley); M.A. 1988 (religion), Chicago; B.A. 1987 (religion), Barnard College.
Modern Greek history; Balkans; late Ottoman history; nationalism; religion.

Michael A. Gomez, Professor, History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Ph.D. 1985, M.A. 1982, B.A. 1981 (history), Chicago.
African diaspora; Islam in West Africa.

Linda Gordon, Professor. Ph.D. 1970 (history), M.A. 1963 (history and Russian studies), Yale; B.A. 1961 (history), Swarthmore College.
Twentieth-century U.S. social, political, and social policy history; women and gender; family; U.S. Southwest.

Manu Goswami, Associate Professor, History, East Asian Studies. Ph.D. 1998, M.A. 1992, Chicago; B.A. 1989, Hood College.
Modern South Asian history; historical political economy; nationalism; history of globalization; social theory.

Greg Grandin, Professor, Ph.D. 1999 (history), M.A. 1995 (history), Yale; B.A. 1992 (history), Brooklyn College (CUNY).
Central America and Latin America; the Cold War; nationalism; U.S.-Latin American relations.

Adam Green, Associate Professor, History, Social and Cultural Analysis (American Studies). Ph.D. 1998 (history), Yale; B.A. 1985 (history), Chicago.
Modern U.S. history; African American history; urban history; comparative racial politics; cultural economy.

Fiona J. Griffiths, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1999 (medieval history), M.Phil. 1996 (medieval history), Cambridge; B.A. 1994 (history), Toronto.
Medieval history.

Harry Harootunian, Professor, History, East Asian Studies. Ph.D. 1958 (history), M.A. 1953 (Far Eastern studies), Michigan; B.A. 1951, Wayne State.
Early modern and modern Japanese history; historical theory.

Martha Hodes, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1991 (history), M.A. 1987 (history), Princeton; M.A. 1984 (religion), Harvard; B.A. 1980 (religion and political theory), Bowdoin College.
Nineteenth-century United States; transnational race; Civil War era.

Richard W. Hull, Professor. Ph.D. 1968, M.A. 1965 (African studies), M.A. 1964 (European history), Columbia; B.A. 1962, Rutgers.
Democratization in Africa; origins of segregation in South Africa.

Walter Johnson, Professor, Social and Cultural Analysis (American Studies), History. Ph.D. 1995 (history), M.A. 1992 (history), Princeton; Dip. 1989, Cambridge; B.A. 1988 (history), Amherst College.
Southern history; African American history; slavery.

Tony R. Judt, Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies; Professor, History; Director, Remarque Institute. Ph.D. 1973 (history), M.A. 1973, B.A. 1969 (history), Cambridge.
Modern European history; French history and the history of ideas.

Rebecca Karl, Associate Professor, East Asian Studies, History. Ph.D. 1995 (history), Duke; M.A. 1989 (politics), New York; B.A. 1981 (Russian literature), Barnard College.
Modern Chinese history; theories of nationalism; nationalism in Asia; gender and radicalism.

Yanni Kotsonis, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1994 (history), Columbia; M.A. 1986 (Russian history), London; B.A. 1985 (history), Concordia (Montreal).
Nineteenth- and 20th-century Russia; modern Europe; political economy; historical methods.

Barbara Krauthamer, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1999, M.A. 1996, Princeton; M.A. 1994, Washington; B.A. 1989, Dartmouth College.
African American; U.S. South and borderlands; U.S. women.

Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Professor; Silver Professor. Ph.D. 1978 (history), Cambridge; M.A. 1962 (history), Harvard; B.A. 1961 (history), Missouri.
Early modern Atlantic world; colonization; Native American history.

John Joseph Lee, Professor. M.A. 1965, Manchester; B.A. 1962 (history and economics), University College Dublin.
Irish history.

David Levering Lewis, Professor; University Professor. Ph.D. 1962 (modern Europe/France), London School of Economics and Political Science; M.A. 1958 (history), Columbia; B.A. 1956 (history/philosophy), Fisk.
African American history.

David Ludden, Professor. Ph.D. 1978 (history), M.A./B.A. 1972, Pennsylvania.
Economic development; agrarian conditions; health environment; empire; inequality; social conflict.

Michele Mitchell, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1998 (history), Northwestern; M.A. 1993 (history), B.A. 1987 (history), Mount Holyoke College.
Diaspora North America.

Maria Montoya, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1993 (history), M.A. 1991 (history), B.A. 1986 (history), Yale.
American West; labor history; gender; Latina/o history.

Jennifer Morgan, Associate Professor, History, Social and Cultural Analysis (American Studies, Africana Studies). Ph.D. 1995 (history), Duke; B.A. 1986, Oberlin College.
Early African American history; comparative slavery; histories of racial ideology.

Andrew Needham, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2006 (history), Michigan; M.A. 1997 (history), San Francisco State; B.A. 1993 (history), Northwestern.
Historical geography; modern American history; environmental history; borderlands; American Indian history. .

Mary Nolan, Professor. Ph.D. 1975 (history), M.A. 1969 (history), Columbia; B.A. 1966 (history), Smith College.
Modern German history; European women’s history; post-World War II order.

Leslie Peirce, Professor; Silver Professor; Ph.D. 1988 (history), Princeton; M.A. 1968 (history), Harvard; B.A. 1964 (history), Harvard-Radcliffe.
Early modern Ottoman history; gender; law and society; comparative empires.

Jeffrey Thomas Sammons, Professor. Ph.D. 1982 (history), North Carolina (Chapel Hill); M.A. 1974 (history), Tufts; B.A. 1971 (history), Rutgers.
U.S. social and cultural history, with emphasis on intersection of race and sport.

Andrew Sartori, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2003, Chicago; M.A. 1994, B.A. 1993, Melbourne.
Modern South Asian history; modern intellectual history; social theory.

John Shovlin, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1995 (history), M.A. 1992 (history), Chicago; B.A. 1991 (history), Harvard.
Eighteenth-century Europe; political and cultural history; French revolution; French intellectual history.

Kostis Smyrlis, Assistant Professor, History, Program in Hellenic Studies. Ph.D. 2002 (history), D.E.A. 1996 (history of the Byzantine world and post-Byzantine), Paris I (Sorbonne); M.A. 1995 (Byzantine studies), Birmingham (UK); B.A. 1992 (law), Athens.
Byzantine empire, 9th to 15th centuries; economic history; emperor and subjects; state finances; law and land ownership; diplomatics.

Jack Kuo Wei Tchen, Associate Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study; Associate Professor, History, Social and Cultural Analysis (Asian/Pacific/American Studies); Director, Asian/Pacific/ American Studies Program. Ph.D. 1992, M.A. 1987, New York; B.A. 1973, Wisconsin (Madison).
Interethnic and interracial relations of Asians and Americans.

Sinclair Thomson, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1996 (Latin American history), M.A. 1987 (Latin American history), Wisconsin (Madison); B.A. 1982-1983 (religious studies), California (Berkeley); Certificate 1980-1991 (French language and history), Sorbonne (Paris).
Colonial Latin America; Andean region; peasant and Indian politics.

Joanna Waley-Cohen, Professor; Ph.D. 1987 (Chinese history), M.Phil. 1984, Yale; M.A. 1977, B.A. 1974, Cambridge.
Early modern Chinese history; China and the West; Chinese imperial culture.

Daniel Walkowitz, Professor; Director, Metropolitan Studies Program. Ph.D. 1972 (history), B.A. 1964 (English), Rochester.
Social history; public history; labor history.

Barbara Weinstein, Professor. Ph.D. 1980 (history), M.A./M.Phil. 1976 (history), Yale; B.A. 1973, Princeton.
Modern Latin America; Brazil; labor history; slavery and emancipation; race and gender; regionalism and nationalism.

Lawrence Wolff, Professor. Ph.D. 1984 (history), M.A. 1980, Stanford; B.A. 1979, Harvard.
Eastern Europe; Poland; Habsburg Monarchy; the Enlightenment.

Peter Wosh, Director, Program in Public History and Archival Management and Historical Editing. Ph.D. 1988 (American history), M.A. 1979 (history, with Certificate in Archival Management and Historical Editing), New York; B.A. 1976 (history), Rutgers.
Archival management; American Christianity; local and community history; institutions and organizations.

Marilyn B. Young, Professor. Ph.D. 1963 (history), M.A. 1958 (history), Harvard; B.A. 1957 (history), Vassar College.
U.S. foreign relations; U.S.-East Asian relations; Third World women and gender.

ASSOCIATED AND AFFILIATED FACULTY IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS

Kamau Brathwaite, Comparative Literature; Robert Chazan, Hebrew and Judaic Studies; Stephen F. Cohen, Russian and Slavic Studies; Angela Dillard, Gallatin School of Individualized Study; David Engel, Hebrew and Judaic Studies; Khaled Fahmy, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Jan Tomasz Gross, Politics; Bernard Haykel, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Adnan Husain, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Zachary Lockman, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Robert D. McChesney, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Michael Peachin, Classics; Francis E. Peters, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies; Richard Sennett, Sociology; Jonathan Zimmerman, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

FACULTY EMERITI

Paul R. Baker, Patricia Bonomi, North Callahan, Jill N. Claster, Penelope Johnson, Paul Mattingly, Henry Noss, L. Jay Oliva, Carl E. Prince, David E. Reimers, Nicholas Sanchez-Albornoz, Robert Scally, Jerrold Seigel, Stewart A. Stehlin, Chester C. Tan, Irwin Unger.