CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT: Professor Benton
DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES:Professor Diner

History is the study of human experience of all kinds, considered in relation to particular times and places. It is also a method of thinking characterized by its attention to the contexts in which people have lived and worked. By mastering this method of thinking, students of history gain invaluable skills and techniques. They learn to analyze and interpret many different kinds of evidence—cultural, social, economic, and political—to organize it into a coherent whole and present it clearly with style in written or oral form. In doing so, students also learn to justify and to question their own and others’ conclusions, for history is always an argument about what actually happened. Indeed, rethinking and revising accepted historical conclusions is one of the most important—and most interesting—tasks of the historian.

Notable among the department’s areas of scholarly strength are American urban, social, labor, and ethnic history; medieval, early modern, and modern European history; and American and European women’s history. The sub-Saharan African, Latin American, and Asian areas are also strong and tend to be multidisciplinary. Through independent study and the honors program, students find challenging opportunities for special concentration and individual research. The internship program enables students to engage in special kinds of supervised historical projects for credit. Many of the projects are at cultural institutions in New York and at the United Nations.

The University’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library is rich in works of history, and students also may also use the collections of the New York Public Library, the historical societies and museums in New York City, and neighboring universities.

Faculty

Professors Emeriti:
Baker, Bonomi, Claster, P. Johnson, Oliva, Prince, Reimers, Sanchez-Albornoz, Scally, Seigel, Stehlin, Tan, Unger

Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies:
Judt

Silver Professor; Professor of History and University Professor:
Lewis

Silver Professor; Professor of History:
Kupperman

University Professor:
Bender

Professors:
Bedos-Rezak, Benton, Berenson, Burbank, Cooper, Diner, Duggan, Gomez, Gordon, Grandin, Harootunian, Hull, Johnson, Lee, Mattingly, Nolan, Pierce, Sammons, Waley-Cohen, Walkowitz, Wolff, Young

Associate Professors:
ami, Green, Hodes, Karl, Kotsonis, Thomson, Zimmerman

Assistant Professors:
Appuhn, Ben-Dor Benite, Eustace, Griffiths, Krauthamer, Otter, Shovlin

ADJUNCT FACULTY

Associate Professors:
Katz, Rose, Voorhees, Wosh

AFFILIATED FACULTY

Professors:
Brathwaite, Carruthers, Chazan, S. Cohen, Cooper, Engel, Gross, Hertzberg, Lockman, McChesney, Nelson, Peachin, Peters, Reid, Stoller, Sylla

Associate Professors:
R. Cohen, Fahmey, Haykel, Tchen