Ronen Steinberg

[Photo credit: Jackie Hawthorne]

I am an associate professor in the Department of History. I was trained as a historian of the French Revolution. My first book, The Afterlives of the Terror: Facing the Legacies of Mass Violence in Postrevolutionary France (Cornell University Press, 2019) examined how those who experienced revolutionary violence in the late eighteenth century struggled to come to terms with it. While working on this book I developed an interest in transitional justice, trauma, and genocide. I have published articles on these subjects, and I remain interested in them. I am currently working on the involvement of historians in the documentation and prosecution of human rights violations. I am also developing an interest in the global history of the 1970s.

I offer courses on the Age of Revolutions (1750s – 1850s), modern European history, the history and theory of genocide, and the history of emotions. I am open to advising graduate students on a variety of subjects (e.g., European history, the history of violence, transitional justice, human rights, historiography). I would also be interested in advising graduate students whose research touches on the 1970s, visual culture, and the human sciences.

I hold a B.A. in history and philosophy (Tel-Aviv University, Israel, 2000) and a Ph.D. in history (The University of Chicago, 2010.) I have held fellowships at the University of Michigan, the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Texas at Austin.

When not reading and writing history, I enjoy playing the guitar and swimming. I am also involved in organized labor.