The Northwestern History Department includes forty full-time faculty members specializing in African, American, Asian, European, Latin American, and Middle-Eastern history. Faculty in the department enjoy international reputations and are the recipients of many distinguished fellowships and prizes.
The history major is among the most popular in Weinberg College because of the faculty's reputation for outstanding teaching and advising, with the department winning more teaching prizes than any other in the college.
For more information, please browse the site or contact:
- Department Chair, Peter Hayes;
- Director of Undergraduate Studies, Brodwyn Fischer;
- Director of Graduate Studies, Jonathon Glassman;
- or Business Administrator, Paula Blaskovits.
Recent Faculty Publications
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Michael Allen Until the Last Man Comes Home: POWs, MIAs, and the Unending Vietnam War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009) |
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Francesca Bordogna William James at the Boundaries: Philosophy, Science, and the Geography of Knowledge (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008) |
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Brodwyn Fischer A Poverty of Rights: Citizenship and Inequality in Twentieth-Century Rio de Janeiro (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008) |
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Jacob Lassner (with Michael Bonner) Islam in the Middle Ages: The Origins and Shaping of Classical Islamic Civilization (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2009) |
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Jennifer Light The Nature of Cities: Ecological Visions and the American Urban Professions, 1920–1960 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009) |
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John A. Lynn Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) |
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Nancy MacLean The American Women's Movement, 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009) |
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Nancy MacLean (with Donald T. Critchlow) Debating the American Conservative Movement: 1945 to the Present (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009) |
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Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern Jews in the Russian Army, 1827–1917: Drafted into Modernity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008) |
Recent History News
Lynn book WINS award
Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honor Society, has awarded its Best Subsequent Book award for 2009 to John A. Lynn's Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe.
FISCHER Book Wins TWO PRIZES
Brodie Fischer's book, A Poverty of Rights: Citizenship and Inequality in Twentieth-Century Rio de Janeiro, has won both the Conference on Latin American History's Warren Dean Memorial Prize (for the most significant work on the history of Brazil published in English) and the Urban History Association's Biennial Award (for the best book in non-North American urban history) for 2007-08.
SMITH BOOK HONORED
Carl Smith's book, The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City, has been named the Fall 2009 selection for the Chicago Public Library's One Book, One Chicago Program.
PENNINGROTH RECEIVES GRANT
Dylan Penningroth has been awarded a three-year grant from
the National Science Foundation for his project "Local Courts and African-American Life."
NU #1 FOR AFRICAN HISTORY
Northwestern's graduate program in African History has again been ranked tops in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Recent Lectures And Exhibits
Robert H. WIEBE Lecture
Christine Stansell
Beginning After the End:
a Historian's View of Post-Catastrophic Societies
The Robert Wiebe Memorial Lectureship, endowed by generous donors, brings to Northwestern a distinguished historian chosen by undergraduate majors in history each year.
It honors the memory of Professor Robert H. Wiebe (1930-2000), who taught at Northwestern from 1960 until 1997 shortly before his death. In addition to being a pathbreaking scholar, Wiebe was deeply devoted to all aspects of undergraduate education.
Click for more information (PlanIt Purple)
Dyan Elliott Inaugural Lecture
Peter B. Ritzma Chair in the Humanities
The Church Sex Scandal:
Medieval Blueprint for Disaster
Christian doctrine has always been divided between intolerance for the hidden sin and apprehension over scandalizing the faithful through its publication. The rise of clerical celibacy would tilt the scales in favor of the secret sin, and a systematic concealment of sexual infractions ensued. Certain doctrinal developments, particularly the evolution of sacramental confession, put a seal of sanctity on this tacit policy, paving the way for the sex scandals of the present day church.
QUEER BRONZEVILLE
An Online Exhibit
by Tristan Cabello,
Ph.D. candidate in Northwestern's History Department
The History of African American Gays and Lesbians
on Chicago's South Side 1900-1980
Explore the history of African American Gays and Lesbians on Chicago's South Side through a collection of 100 historical documents, including photographs, songs, videos, maps, interviews and articles.
Center for Historical Studies
The Center invites faculty members and graduate students who work with historical materials to participate in an ongoing conversation about the core concerns of the historical discipline.
Upcoming Events
CHS Fall 2009 speaker series:
Peter Brown
Thursday, November 5
John A. Lynn
Surrender in European Warfare: Honor, Defeat, and Acquiescence
Thursday, November 19
History event co-sponsored with Jewish Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures:
Jonathan Brent
Russia Today: Nationalism and the Rebirth of Stalin
Tuesday, January 12
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