Name: Gerald Sorin
Title: Director, Resnick Institute
Academic Rank: Distinguished Teaching Professor
Department: History
Expertise Keywords: American Studies, Ethnic identity, Immigration, Jewish-American history, Politics
Available For: interviews, essays, speaking
Expertise: I have published more than two-hundred articles, essays, and reviews in the professional journals, and my most recent books, of the eight I have published, include: A biography of Irving Howe, the author of World of Our Fathers and editor of Dissent (Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent, NYU, 2002), which won the National Jewish Book Award in 2003, and Howard Fast: Life and Literature in the Left Lane (Indiana, 2012), which won the National Jewish Book Award in 2013. .I have been abroad for extended periods a many times, as a researcher, teacher, guest lecturer, and observer of the contemporary scene. In 1992 I was a visiting professor at the Institute of Journalism, a unit of the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. And in 1998 I was a Fulbright Fellow holding the John Adams Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. I traveled widely through Europe, including France, Belgium, Germany,Turkey and Czechoslovakia, and lectured in many different places on themes in American and Jewish history.
Currrent Research: Jewish-American Literature and Politics
Contact Information
E-mail Address: gsorin@hvc.rr.com
Home Phone: 845-255-5016
Other Information
Positions held at New Paltz prior to current position:
Chair, Department of History, 1986- 1996
Director, Jewish Studies, 1983-2005
Education
| Colleges/ Universities Attended |
Dates Attended |
Degree Conferred |
Year Conferred |
Major Subject |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia College | 1958-1962 | B.A. | 1962 | History |
| Wayne State University | 1962-1963 | M.A. | 1964 | History |
| Columbia University | 1963-1968 | Ph.D. | 1969 | History |
| YIVO | 1977-1978 | Jewish History |
Awards/Grants/Honors
Distinguished Professor, 1994
Fulbright, John Adams Distinguished Chair in American Studies, 1998
American Jewish Historical Association Award for the Best Book on Jewish- American Studies for the period 2001- 2002
National Jewish Book Award in History 2003
National Jewish Book Award in Biography 2013
Organizational Memberships
Organization of American Historians American Jewish Historical Society, Academic Council 1990-
Publications
1. New York Abolitionists: A Case Study of Political Radicalism Westport, CT.: Greenwood Publishers, 1971.
2. Abolitionism: A New Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1972.
3. The Prophetic Minority: American Jewish Immigrant Radicals, 1880-1920. Bloomington, IN.: Indiana University Press, 1985.
4. The Nurturing Neighborhood: The Brownsville Boys Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940-1990. New York: New York University Press, 1990
5. The Jewish People in America. A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880-1920. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992
6. Tradition Transformed: The Jewish Experience in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997
7. Irving Howe: A Life of Passionate Dissent (NY: New York University Press, 2002)
8. Howard Fast: Life and Literature in the Left Lane (Indiana University Press, 2012)
