Deborah Anne Cohen (born 1968) is an American historian of modern Europe and Britain. She is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
and interim director of Northwestern's Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.
Education and career
Cohen is of Ukrainian Jewish descent and grew up the daughter of a lawyer in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
. Her interest in British history stems from her father's interest in British
modernist literature
Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...
, and her feminist approach to history was influenced by
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
professors
Susan Pedersen, Alexandra Owen, and
Olwen Hufton.
She graduated ''
summa cum laude'' from
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...
in 1990, and completed her Ph.D. in history at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in 1996. After working as a faculty member in the history departments of
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
from 1997 to 2002 and
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
from 2002 to 2010, she joined Northwestern University as Ritzma Professor in 2010.
She is a member of the Editorial Board for ''
Past & Present''.
Books
Cohen's first book was ''The War Come Home: Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914–1939'' (University of California Press, 2001). In it, she contrasted the generous treatment by the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
of veterans returning from
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and the lingering resentment of those veterans toward the Republic, with the more meager support by Britain for its veterans and their loyalty to their state. Rather than attributing these differences to the different outcomes of the war for the two countries, she credits Britain's encouragement of private philanthropy towards veterans for their happiness.
Her second book, ''Household Gods: The British and their Possessions'' (Yale University Press, 2006), studies the rise of the middle class in Britain from the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
to the present, through the mirror of their household possessions. Her themes include the descent of popular tastes from the individuality of the Victorians into mass conformity, and (triggered by the 1895 libel and indecency trials of
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
) a perceived linkage between aesthetic taste and homosexuality that led British men to retreat from home decor, leaving it to women.
''Family Secrets: Shame and Privacy in Modern Britain'' (Viking Penguin and Oxford University Press, 2013), her third book, concerns British families and the ways they handled issues that might be considered shameful, including birth defects, mixed-race and illegitimate children, adoption, divorce, homosexuality, and abusive family members. As with ''Household Gods'' she mainly focuses on the middle class. Cohen studies the way that the balance between privacy and secrecy has been transformed by developments including the enforced openness of mid-19th-century divorce courts, the early 20th-century legalization of adoption and abortion, and the changing sizes and composition of family units.
Recognition
Cohen's book ''The War Come Home'' won the Allan Sharlin Memorial Book Award of the
Social Science History Association. Her book ''Household Gods'' won the Morris D. Forkosch Prize of the
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
, was co-winner of the Albion Book Prize of the North American Conference on British Studies, and was shortlisted for the
Hessell-Tiltman Prize of the
English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associa ...
. Her book ''Family Secrets'' also won the Forkosch Prize, and was the winner of the Stansky Prize of the North American Conference on British Studies.
Cohen was elected as a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 2018.
Notes
References
External links
Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Deborah
1968 births
Living people
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Writers from Louisville, Kentucky
Educators from Louisville, Kentucky
American women historians
Radcliffe College alumni
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
American University faculty
Brown University faculty
Northwestern University faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
21st-century American women