Maurice Isserman
Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History
Maurice Isserman's new book, Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering, was published by Norton to favorable reviews. A former Fulbright grant-winner, his prize-winning books include The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington, and his co-authored book Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes.
Isserman is co-author of America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, and wrote On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College. He also has published Cronkite's War: His World War Two Letters Home, co-authored with Walter Cronkite IV '11. He received his doctorate from the University of Rochester.
Recent Courses Taught
An Introduction to the History of the United States, 1861-2001
The American Civil War
Recent American History: The United States, 1941 to the Present
Distinctions
- Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of History, Hamilton College, 2011 –
- Fulbright lectureship, Odense, Denmark, 2012 – 13 (declined)
- James L. Ferguson Professor of History, Hamilton College, 2007-11
- William R. Kenan Professor of History, Hamilton College, 1997-2003
- Fulbright lectureship, Moscow State University, Spring 1997
- Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, Harvard University, 1992-93
- American Council of Learned Societies, Grant-in-aid, 1992-93
- National Endowment for the Humanities, research stipend, summer 1991
- Distinguished Visitors Program, University of California at Irvine, 1988-89 (declined)
- National Endowment for the Humanities, Team Research Grant, Smith College, American Studies Department, summer 1987
- National Endowment for the Humanities, summer stipend, 1983
- Mellon Fellowship for the Humanities, summer 1983
- Boston University Professors Program Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1982-83 (declined)
- Research Grant, Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, 1977
Selected Publications
- Continental Divide: A History of Mountaineering (Norton, 2016).
- Cronkite’s War: His World War II Letters Home, co-authored with Walter Cronkite IV, (National Geographic Books, 2013).
- On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College (Hamilton College, 2011).
- Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes, co-authored with Stewart Weaver, (Yale University Press, 2008; Paperback, 2010).
- The Other America: The Life of Michael Harrington, (Public Affairs Press, 2000; paperback, 2001)
- American Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, co-authored with Michael Kazin (Oxford University Press, 1999; paperback 2000; rev. ed., 2003; 3rd, rev. ed., 2007; 4th rev. ed., 2011).
- “50 Years Later: Poverty and The Other America,” Dissent (winter 2012).
- “Open Archives and Open Minds: ‘Traditionalists’ Versus ‘Revisionists’ After Venona,” American Communist History, IV (December 2005).
- “‘Papers of a Dangerous Tendency’: From Major Andre’s Boot to the VENONA Files,” co-authored with Ellen Schrecker in Schrecker’s ed., Cold War Triumphalism: The Misuse of History After The Fall of Communism (New Press, 2004).
- “Michael Harrington: An ‘Other’ American”; Mary Rhiel and David Suchoff, eds., The Seductions of Biography (Routledge, 1996).
- “Michael Harrington and the Debs-Thomas Tradition,” Dissent (fall 1996).
- “Michael Harrington and the Vietnam War: The Failure of Anti-Stalinism in the 1960’s,” Peace and Change. XXI, No. 4 (October 1996).
- “Black and White: Unite and Fight?,” Reviews in American History, XIII (March 1995).
- “You Don't Need a Weatherman but a Postman can be Helpful: Thoughts on the History of SDS and the Antiwar Movement,” in Melvin Small and William D. Hoover, eds., Give Peace A Chance: Exploring the Vietnam Antiwar Movement (Syracuse University Press, 1992).
- “The New History of American Communism Revisited,” Reviews in American History, XX (December 1992).
- “The Not-So Dark and Bloody Ground of Sixties Historiography,” American Historical Review, Vol. 94, 4 (October 1989).
Professional Affiliations
- Committee on College and University Governance, American Association of University Professors, 2006-10
- International Committee, Organization of American Historians, 2007-10
Appointed to the Faculty
1990Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Rochester
M.A., University of Rochester
B.A., Reed College
