History Book Club
The History Book Club is a monthly event series that brings together alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the Department of History to engage virtually with our faculty and graduates and learn about their recently published books.
History Book Club gatherings are designed to be enjoyed by any history lover, whether or not you’ve read the featured book.
Do I need to read the book to attend this gathering?
You do not! Our History Book Club gatherings are designed to be enjoyed by any history lover, whether or not you’ve read the featured book.
Upcoming Events
The History Department's upcoming book club events are listed below. All sessions take place online from 6-7 PM.
September 10: David Perry, Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in History at the University of Minnesota, and Matthew Gabriele, Professor of Medieval Studies in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, authors of Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe (Harper Collins, 2024).
October 15: Elizabeth Quillen, PhD Candidate in History at the University of Minnesota and author of Medieval Nuns at War: Rebellious, Resilient and Rowdy Women (Pen and Sword, 2025). In conversation with Andrea Sterk, Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
November 12: Katharine Gerbner, Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, author Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica (Duke University Press, 2025).
Past Events
Learn about past events in this series. Recordings are available for some of the sessions.
JoJo Bell, PhD Candidate in History at the University of Minnesota and author of Red Stained: The Life of Hilda Simms in conversation with William Jones, Professor of History. View the recording of the Book Club here.
Llana Barber, Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and Director of the Immigration History Research Center, in conversation with Erika Lee, Bae Family Professor of History at Harvard about Immigration History. View the recording of the Book Club Here.
Llana Barber, Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and Director of the Immigration History Research Center, in conversation with Erika Lee, Bae Family Professor of History at Harvard about Immigration History.
Dr. Zozan Pehlivan, assistant professor of history, University of Minneosta will discuss her book The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In conversation with Dr. Anna Clark, professor of history, University of Minnesota. View the recording of the November 2024 book club meeting.
Elizabeth Williams (PhD '17), assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, University of Kentucky, Primitive Normativity: Race, Sexuality, and Temporality in Colonial Kenya. In conversation with Jessica Nammakal (PhD '13), associate professor of the practice of international comparative studies, Duke University. View the recording of the October 2024 book club meeting.
Yalile Suriel, assistant professor of history, University of Minnesota, Cops on Campus: Rethinking Safety and Confronting Police Violence in conversation with Tracey Deutsch, associate professor of history, University of Minnesota.
Alum Nikki Berg Burin (PhD ‘07) and Kirsten Delegard, project director and co-founder of the Mapping Prejudice project, will discuss how their awareness of urgent community needs transformed their research and teaching and why it is important to bring a historical perspective into collaborations with grassroots activists.
The history department welcomes Dr. Yuxin Ma and Dr. Elyssa Faison to talk about Ma's book Colonial Tactics and Everyday Life: Workers of the Manchuria Film Association.
The History Department is welcoming visiting Author Andrea Robertson to talk about transitioning from a career in academia to writing literature. She will be talking about a variety of books she has written over the years.
The History Department is welcoming visiting professor Oleksandr Komarenko from the National University of Kyiv. Instead of featuring one of his books, this is a special opportunity to hear him talk with assistant professor Igor Tchoukarine about the Russia-Ukraine war in historical context.
Paul Barclay (PhD ‘99), professor of history at Lafayette College, will discuss Kondo the Barbarian: A Japanese Adventurer and Indigenous Taiwan’s Bloodiest Uprising. In conversation with Hiromi Mizuno.
Lowell Gudmundson (PhD ‘82) Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies and History at Mount Holyoke College on his work “Costa Rica After Coffee: The Co-op Era in History and Memory.” In conversation with Patrick McNamara.
Qiliang He (PhD ‘06), professor at Hong Kong Shue Yan University on his book “Working the System: Motion Picture, Filmmakers, and Subjectivities in Mao-Era China, 1949-1966.” In conversation with Jason McGrath.
Margot Canaday (PhD '04), Professor of History at Princeton University, on her new book "Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America." She was joined in conversation by UMN History and Law Professor Barbara Welke.
Todd Cleveland (PhD ‘08), Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies with History at University of Arkansas on his newest release "A History of Tourism in Africa: Exoticization, Exploitation, and Enrichment." This discussion was co-lead by Igor Tchoukarine, UMN Professor.
A discussion between Hamline History Professor and UMN PhD graduate John Mazis and Professor Theo Stavrou on Mazis' newest book Athanasios Souliotis-Nikolaidis and Greek Irredentism: A Life in the Shadows (Rowman & Littlefield February 2022).
View the recording of the March 2023 book club meeting with John Mazis and Theofanis Stavrou.
Tom Taylor (PhD '88), associate professor at Seattle University discusses his new book Modern Travel in World History (Routledge June 2022) with Loren Crabtree (BA ‘61, PhD ‘69).
View the recording of the March 2023 book club meeting with Tom Taylor.
Ruth Karras, professor of Medieval women, gender and sexuality history at Trinity College Dublin, and Katherine Pierpont, UMN PhD student researching Medieval sex work on the fourth edition of their book Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing Unto Others (Penn State Press 2023).
Pritipuspa Mishra, Associate Professor of History at University of Southampton and a UMN History PhD graduate, on her book "Language and the Making of Modern India: Nationalism and the Vernacular in Colonial Odisha, 1803–1956." Mishra specializes in modern India history. She was joined conversation with Ajay Skaria, UMN Professor of History and current Director of the Graduate Program with the department.
Giancarlo Casale in conversation with Fikri Cicek in discussion of his new book "Prisoner of the Infidels." Casale is an associate professor with the U's history department, as well as a professor with the European University Institute, specializing in the Early Modern Mediterranean and Ottoman Empire. Fikri Cicek is a graduate student with the department, specializing the Ottoman Empire.
Led by Howard Louthan, professor of history at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and Jonathan Green, instructor of German in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of North Dakota, in conversation with Elaine Tennan, Professor in the Departments of German and Scandinavian at UC Berkeley.
Adam Blackler (PhD '17), in conversation with Erik Roubinek, on his new book "An Imperial Homeland: Forging German Identity in Southwest Africa." Blackler is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wyoming, specializing in modern Germany and southern Africa. He is co-editor of "After the Imperialist Imagination: Two Decades of Research on Global Germany and Its Legacies".
Jean O'Brien, distinguished McKnight Professor of History at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and Daniel Heath Justice, professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia and the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture, on their book Allotment Stories. View the recording of the August History Book Club.
Kris Lane (PhD '96), Professor of History at Tulane, on Potosi: The Silver City that Changed the World in conversation with Carla Phillips. View recording of the July History Book Club.
David Morton (PhD '15), Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, on his book “Age of Concrete: Housing and the Shape of Aspiration in the Capital of Mozambique,” in conversation with Elliot James. View recording of Morton's History Book Club.
Caley Horan (PhD '11), associate professor of history at MIT on Insurance Era: Risk, Governance, and the Privatization of Security in Postwar America. This event is in conversation with Ben Wiggins. View the recording of the April History Book Club.
Emily Rook-Koepsel (PhD '10), assistant director of academic affairs - Asian studies at University of Pittsburgh on Democracy and Unity in India: Understanding the All India Phenomenon, 1940-1960. Patricia Lorcin will facilitate the event. View the recording of the March History Book Club.
On Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, led by Matthew Gabriele, professor of medieval studies and chair of the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, and David M. Perry (PhD ‘06), undergraduate academic advisor for the Department of History, University of Minnesota Twin Cities. View the recording of the February History Book Club.
Allen Issacman (PhD '70), Regents Professor of Central and South African History at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and Barbara Issacman, former Hennepin County criminal defense attorney, on Mozambique’s Samora Machel: A Life Cut Short. View the recording of the January History Book Club.
Jessica Namakkal (PhD '13), assistant professor of the practice in international comparative studies; gender, sexuality, and feminist studies; and history, Duke University on Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India. Ajay Skaria will facilitate the event. View the recording of the November History Book Club.
Emily Bruce (PhD '15), assistant professor of history, University of Minnesota Morris on Revolutions at Home: The Origins of Childhood and the German Middle Class. Mary Jo Maynes will be in conversation with Bruce. View October Recording of the October History Book Club.
Katrina Phillips (PhD '15), assistant professor of American Indian history, Macalester College on Staging Indigeneity: Salvage Tourism and the Performance of Native American History. Andrew Denson (West Carolina University) will engage in conversation with Phillips about her book.
Led by Nate Holdren (PhD '14), assistant professor of history, Drake University and and author of Injury Impoverished: Workplace Accidents, Law and Capitalism in the Progressive Era and Daniel La Chance (PhD '11), Winship Distinguished Research Professor in History, Emory University, author of Executing Freedom: The Cultural Life of Capital Punishment in the United States.
Led by Koni Benson (PhD '09), lecturer, University of the Western Cape, South Africa (author), and André Trantraal (illustrator) of Crossroads: I Live Where I Like: A Graphic History.
Katherine French (PhD '93), J. Frederick Hoffman Professor of History, the University of Michigan on Household Goods and Good Households in Late Medieval London.
Benjamin Wiggins (PhD '13), Digital Arts, Sciences, & Humanities Program Director, University of Minnesota Libraries on Calculating Race: Racial Discrimination in Risk Assessment AND Caley Horan (PhD '11), Associate Professor of History, MIT
Kirsten Fischer, associate professor of history, will discuss her book American Freethinker: Elihu Palmer and the Struggle for Religious Freedom in the New Nation with Jon Butler, research professor of history.
Joe Trotter (PhD ‘80), Giant Eagle Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University, discussed his book Workers on Arrival with moderator William Jones, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.
A conversation on God in Gotham: The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan by Jon Butler (BA ‘64, PhD ‘72), Research Professor of History, University of Minnesota and Howard R Lamar Emeritus Professor of American Studies, History & Religious Studies, Yale University.
Katharine Gerbner, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, discusses her book Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World.
A conversation on A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States between author Eric D. Weitz, Distinguished Professor of History at The City College of New York, and Barbara Frey, Director of the Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota.
A discussion on America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States Erika Lee, Regents Professor, Director of the Immigration History Research Center, and Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History.
A book talk on Monumental Mobility: The Memory Work of Massasoit was given by co-authors Jean M. O’Brien, professor, University of Minnesota and Lisa Blee, associate professor, Wake Forest University.