Gary Gerstle
Encyclopedia
Gary Gerstle is the James G. Stahlman Professor of American History at Vanderbilt University
and is the Director of the Vanderbilt History Seminar.
Gerstle received his BA from Brown University
in 1976 and his PhD from Harvard University
in 1982. Before joining the Department of History faculty at Vanderbilt in 2006, he taught at the University of Maryland
, where he was Director of the Center for Historical Studies (2000–2003) and Chair of the Department of History (2003–2006). He taught at Catholic University of America and Princeton University
prior to his position at Maryland.
Gerstle is one of the nation's leading historian
s of race, citizenship and American nationhood. A historian of the twentieth-century United States, he is particularly interested in three major areas of inquiry: 1) immigration, race, and nationality; 2) the significance of class in social and political life; 3) and social movements, popular politics, and the state. Gerstle is the author, co-author, and co-editor of six books and the author of more than thirty articles on these topics.
, one of 2008's Best Books for a Transformative New Year. He has received numerous fellowships, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and a Membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He has served as the Annenberg Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and as a Visiting Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociale in Paris. In addition to France, he has lectured throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa. He was elected to the Society of American Historians in 2005 and named a Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians in 2007. Gerstle has also lectured widely to the general public, and is often consulted by newspaper reporters, magazine writers, and television producers on matters pertinent to his areas of historical expertise. In May 2007, Gerstle testified on questions of immigration before the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.
Gerstle also co-edits a book series, Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America, which has published more than thirty books, many of them prizewinners. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of American History and the Board of Editors of the American Historical Review.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
and is the Director of the Vanderbilt History Seminar.
Gerstle received his BA from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1976 and his PhD from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1982. Before joining the Department of History faculty at Vanderbilt in 2006, he taught at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
, where he was Director of the Center for Historical Studies (2000–2003) and Chair of the Department of History (2003–2006). He taught at Catholic University of America and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
prior to his position at Maryland.
Gerstle is one of the nation's leading historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s of race, citizenship and American nationhood. A historian of the twentieth-century United States, he is particularly interested in three major areas of inquiry: 1) immigration, race, and nationality; 2) the significance of class in social and political life; 3) and social movements, popular politics, and the state. Gerstle is the author, co-author, and co-editor of six books and the author of more than thirty articles on these topics.
Fellowships, Awards, and Professional Affiliations
Gerstle's book, American Crucible, received the 2001 Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Award for outstanding book on U. S. Immigration and Ethnic History and was named by NPR book critic, Maureen CorriganMaureen Corrigan
Maureen Corrigan is an American journalist, author and literary critic. She writes for the "Book World" section of The Washington Post, and is a book critic on the NPR radio program Fresh Air. In 2005, she published a literary memoir, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in...
, one of 2008's Best Books for a Transformative New Year. He has received numerous fellowships, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and a Membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He has served as the Annenberg Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and as a Visiting Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociale in Paris. In addition to France, he has lectured throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa. He was elected to the Society of American Historians in 2005 and named a Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians in 2007. Gerstle has also lectured widely to the general public, and is often consulted by newspaper reporters, magazine writers, and television producers on matters pertinent to his areas of historical expertise. In May 2007, Gerstle testified on questions of immigration before the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.
Gerstle also co-edits a book series, Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America, which has published more than thirty books, many of them prizewinners. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of American History and the Board of Editors of the American Historical Review.
Solely Authored Works
- Working-Class Americanism: The Politics of Labor in a Textile City, 1914-1960 (Cambridge, 1989; 2nd edition with a new preface: Princeton, 2002)
- American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century (Princeton, 2001)
Co-authored and Co-edited Works
- The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980, with Steve Fraser (Princeton, 1989)
- E Pluribus Unum: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives on Immigrant Political Incorporation, with John H. Mollenkopf (Russell Sage, 2001)
- Ruling America: A History of Wealth and Power in a Democracy, with Steve Fraser (Harvard, 2005)
- Liberty, Equality, and Power, with John Murrin, Paul Johnson, James McPherson, Alice Fahs, Emily Rosenberg, and Norman Rosenberg (Cengage/Wadsworth, in its 6th edition, 2011)