Peter Novick (July 26, 1934,

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) was an American

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 species; as well as the ...

who was Professor of History at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. He was best known for writing ''That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession'' and '' The Holocaust in American Life''. The latter title has also been published as ''The Holocaust and Collective Memory'', especially for non-US anglophonic markets.

Major works

''That Noble Dream''

''That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession'' questions the origins and prevalence of the notion of objectivity in current and 20th century history. It focuses on developments in university history departments within the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, though it traces the concept of objectivity in history's origins back to 19th century

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and

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

''The Holocaust in American Life''

Jeffrey C. Alexander has examined Novick's "particularization of the Holocaust" in '' The Holocaust in American Life'', he has contrasted his universalizing view of the Holocaust (that it can be a lesson for all peoples), versus what he perceives as Novick's inextricable connection of the genocide with nationalism and

Jewish identity Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. It encompasses elements of nationhood, "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel" "Jews are ...

politics. Novick's thesis, that the Holocaust was largely ignored in the years after World War II due to Cold War concerns that encouraged a rapprochement with West Germany and a distaste among American Jews for the claiming of victim status, has been challenged in the years since his book was published, as for example by Hasia Diner in her book ''We Remember With Reverence and Love: American Jews and the Myth of Silence After the Holocaust, 1945-1962,'' and in the anthology ''After the Holocaust: Challenging the Myth of Silence''.

Career

Novick founded the Jewish studies program at the

Personal life

Novick earned his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, in 1957 and 1965 respectively. Though deemed a precursor, Novick was a sharp critic of Norman Finkelstein, but also of Finkelstein's opponent

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, U.S. constitutional and American criminal law, criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law Sc ...

. He died in 2012 in Chicago of lung cancer.

Bibliography

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novick, Peter 20th-century American historians Jewish American historians Historiographers American historians of the Holocaust University of Chicago faculty Columbia University alumni 1934 births 2012 deaths Place of birth missing