76 University Drive
Hazleton, PA 18202-8025
Biography
Prof. of History with research and teaching interests in 19-20th C. US hist.
Research Interests
My research focuses on how American writers and readers used texts to examine and understand cultural change following the Civil War. My current research emphasizes American food history from the late nineteenth century through the 1960s, with a particular focus on food conservation during the First World War and in the early Cold War era. My three books and 13 article-length publications examine American history from the perspective of popular media, focusing on the role of xenophobia, propaganda, and mass communication in shaping public perceptions and individual experiences of immigration and technology.
My current project examines the role of food in international politics--focusing on the 1959 "Kitchen Debate" that featured Cold War posturing and the utopian promise that America's abundant consumer culture would create a world without hunger. With the promise of new consumer technologies (home refrigerators, electrical appliances, microwave ovens, and suburban homes) U.S. leaders (principally Richard Nixon, then US vice president) could brush aside Soviet advances in aeronautics and science with the claim of cultural and culinary superiority.
Publications
The "Kitchen Debate" Revisited: The Politics of Abundance and Anti-domesticity in Cold War America, Global Food History (Taylor and Francis) - April, 2024
A Frozen Fantasy for Cold War America, Utopian Studies - December, 2023
Provisioning War: A Global History of Food and Conflict, 1840-1990 (note, this is a revised title from prior far materail) - 2021
Food is History of the Deepest Kind’—Eating and Utopia in Sloan’s Sourdough and Sargent’s ‘An American Cockaigne’, Utopian Studies - October, 2020
Food Fights: How History Matters to Contemporary Food Debates , Global Food History - September, 2020
Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race [Review], Agriculture and Human Values - December, 2019
“Strange Times to be a Jew”—Themes of Whiteness, Identity, and Sanctuary in the Imagined Jewish Utopias of Grand Island and Sitka - November, 2019
Review of Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry, Gastronomica [University of California Press] - November, 2019
Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes: A Revised Edition of the 1927 Cookbook with Supporting Materials and Historical Perspectives - June, 2018
Kentucky and the Great War: World War I on the Homefront [Review], Ohio Valley History - 2017
“‘And Serve the Cause of Freedom’—American Food Conservation and Utopian Ideals, 1917-1919”, Global Food History - 2017
“A Pleasant Place for the World to Hide:” Exploring Themes of Utopian Play in Ready Player One, International Literary Studies - 2016
A Salesman Soldier for Uncle Sam: Images of Children in US Food Conservation, 1915-1919 - 2015
Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual [Review], Journal of American History - 2015
Beyond “The Bleak and Dismal Shore:” The Wartime and Postwar Experiences of Four Minute Men, 1917-1927, First World War Studies - 2015
“All Good Books are Catholic Books” [Review], US Catholic Historian - 2014
Julia Child’s The French Chef [Review] , Food, Culture, and Society - 2013
“Nativism from the New Republic to the Cold War” - 2012
Speaking of Jews: Rabbi’s, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity [Review] - 2012
For Both Cross and Flag: Catholic Action, Anti-Catholicism and National Security in World War Two San Francisco [Review], U.S. Catholic Historian - 2011
Middlebrow Literature and the Making of German-Jewish Identity [Review], Religious Studies Review - 2011
What the Rabbis Said: The Public Discourse of Nineteenth-Century American Rabbis [Review], Journal of American Ethnic History - 2010
Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Empire [Review], Journal of American History - 2009
Unlikely Utopians: Solomon Schindler, Henry Mendes, and American Judaism in the 1890s, Utopian Studies - 2009
Utopians at the Parliament: The World Parliament of Religions and the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Journal of Religious History - 2009
Utopias and Dystopias - 2008
Moses Levy of Florida: Jewish Utopian and Antebellum Reformer [Review], Utopian Studies - 2008
Deportation is Freedom! The Orwellian World of Immigration Controls [Review], Utopian Studies - 2007
Righteous Indignation: Religion and the Populist Revolution [Review], Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era - 2007
Looking Backward’s Utopian Sequels: ‘Fictional Dialogues’ in Gilded-Age America, Utopian Studies - 2007
Danger on the Doorstep: Anti-Catholicism and American Print Culture in the Progressive Era - 2006
Embodying the Spirit: New Perspectives on North American Revivalism [Review], Utopian Studies - 2006
Stirring the Melting Pot: America’s Cold-War Nativism , U.S. Catholic Historian - 2005
Making Americans: Immigration, Race, and the Origins of the Diverse Democracy [Review], Journal of Social History - 2002
A War of Words: Childhood and Masculinity in American Anti-Catholicism, 1911-1919, U.S. Catholic Historian - 2002
“A War of Words: Childhood and Masculinity in American Anti-Catholicism, 1911-1919, U.S. Catholic Historian - 2002
Sowing the American Dream: How Consumer Culture Took Root in the Rural Midwest [Review], Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society - 2001
“Public Memory and Popular Culture: The Erie Canal in the Imagination of the 1920s, New York History - 1999
Education
Ph D, American Hist., Indiana University
MA, American Hist., Indiana University
BA, History/ Religious Studies, University of Rochester
Papers and Presentations
December, 2024
Lectures
“The Cuisine will be Perfection Itself:” Gender, Nostalgia and Western Foodways
Western Historical Association (WHA)
Albuquerque NM
I submitted this paper for presentation at the 2025 WHA in October and organized a panel on the themes of historical commemoration, public memory, and western identity
December, 2024
Lectures
”A Delightful Custom that Prevails”—Food Writing of the Southwest in the Great Depression
Historical Society of New Mexico (joint meeting with Arizona Historical Assn)
Las Cruces, NM
Submitted this in December 2024 for inclusion in the 2025 program. This paper examines the program America Eats, which attempted to collect stories of local cuisine, recipes, and food traditions. Intended as a book or radio broadcast, America Eats was cancelled in 1941, so only fragmented notes survive today. I discuss how the WPA described foods of the west and southwestern states, contrasting this writing with the more homogenous state descriptions in other regions.
December, 2024
Papers and Oral Presentations
“There’s No Such Thing as a Kitchen Nowadays:" Exploring a Frozen Food Fantasy in Cold War America
Association for the Study of Food and Society Conference
Portland, OR
April, 2024
Guest Lectures
"How you Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm after they've seen Paris"--Examining Housekeeper's Chat in post WWI America
USDA seminar and archival tour
Washington, DC
I delivered this presentation at the USDA in Washington DC, focusing on the USDA's Bureau of Home Economics, its farm radio service, and development of both cookbook publishing and radio broadcasting in the 1920s
February, 2022
Panels
Roundtable Presentation--The Provisions of War
The Provisions of War--Roundtable Discussion
Virtual conference
I organized and submitted a proposal for a roundtable focused on my newly-published anthology on food and warfare in the 19th and 20th centuries. I served as chair and moderator for this panel at a meeting of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.
2021
Oral Presentations
Looking Backward and Looking Ahead--Utopian Themes and Frozen Foods
Society for Utopian Studies
SUS--Charleston SC
Details for the SUS are, like all conferences, being reevaluated due to the pandemic. But current plans include both an in-person and virtual component. Currently, no details have been finalized, but I have been preparing comments for this paper in the optimistic hope that the conference will be convened after a two-year hiatus.
2019
Papers
‘The Best Authority We Know on Housekeeping:” USDA Radio Broadcasting and the Modern American Kitchen, 1926-1936”
Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, 2019
Philadelphia
I presented this paper and organized a panel entitled: “Mediating Foodways in ‘The American Century’: Shifting Roles of Agriculture, Government, and Information Technologies."
2019
Papers
“‘Sharing the Miracle’—Food and Commensality in Cockaigne and Sourdough”
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
East Lansing, Michigan
Paper submitted for presentation at the 2019 Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) meeting
July 10, 2019
Oral Presentations
Food Diary: Justin Nordstrom on Aunt Sammy
Food Diary--WOOR Radio [Troy, NY}
May, 2019
Lectures
"Aunt Sammy's Recipes and Radio Technology"
Invited Lecture: "Technology in the Kitchen: Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes in the 1920s"
Baltimore, MD
I was invited to give a public lecture to reflect the research in my recent book Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes by the Baltimore Museum of Industry. This talk focused on the use of innovative communication techniques, the USDA's role in the industrialization of the American food supply and the role of technology in shaping consumer markets from the 1920s through the 1940s.
July, 2018
Oral Presentations
"1920s Food Radio with Aunt Sammy"
A Taste of the Past (program/podcast)
Brooklyn, NY
I was asked to present my research on my book Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes for an on-air discussion as part of the Taste of the Past program. This is a part of the Heritage Radio Network, an interdisciplinary network discussing food and food history in the US.
November, 2017
Guest Lectures
We Are What We Eat: Food as a Way of Understanding History
“Fire and Freedom: Food and Enslavement in Early America," a traveling exhibition from the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Penn State Hazleton
I delivered a lecture in conjunction with the campus library's exhibit on food, slavery, and power in the 18th C. Discussed exhibit with library staff prior to its display in fall 2017.
November, 2017
Papers
"Reevaluating Utopia in U.S. Literary Representations of African American Diaspora"
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Memphis, TN
Respondent for a panel on 20th C. race and utopianism particularly among American writers
November, 2017
Papers
“Eutopian Desires and Dystopian Anxieties: American Cooking in the 1920s”
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Memphis, TN
October, 2016
Papers
“An Asylum in a Free and Powerful Country”—Revisiting Mordecai Noah’s Utopianism in The Jew of New York”
Society for Utopian Studies Meeting
St. Petersburg, FL
This paper examined the failed utopian project of settling Jews in Upstate New York in the 1820s, as the impetus for later writing in the 20th C.
October, 2016
Seminars
Roundtable on Speculative Blackness
Society for Utopian Studies Meeting
St. Petersburg, FL
May, 2016
Oral Presentations
Using Objects to Teach Students with Various Learning Styles
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Summer Institute
Dallas, PA
I presented on my teaching of world history through using objects as a way to reach students with different learning styles
November, 2015
Papers
Utopia in the Kitchen and on the Air: Imagined Communities in Early Twentieth-Century America
Society for Utopian Studies Annual Meeting
Pittsburgh, PA
October, 2015
Lectures
Exploring Propaganda from Diverse Viewpoints in History
Study and Promotion of Race and Culture
Chestnut Hill, MA
2014
Keynotes/Plenary Addresses
“Food Will Win the War” The US Food Administration and “Conspicuous Conservation,” 1917-1919
Over There....and Here: An Expeditionary Exhibition on World War I
University Park, PA
http://news.psu.edu/story/326001/2014/09/11/campus-life/library-exhibit…
2014
Papers
Cooking with Aunt Sammie: The “Housekeeper’s Chat” Radio Program and US Domesticity
Food Tech Conference, 2014
NYC
I delivered a paper for this conference in 2014.
2013
Papers
Impetus to War: Imagining America's Dystopian Future in ‘Preparedness’ Novels, 1914-1917
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Charleston, SC
2013
Papers
‘A Salesman Soldier for Uncle Sam:’ Images of Childhood in US Food Conservation
Approaching War: Childhood, Culture, and the First World War
Newcastle upon Thyne, UK
2012
Lectures
Food Will Win the War: Attitudes toward Food Consumption
Buena Vista University Lecture Program
Storm Lake, IA
2012
Papers
A Nostalgic Eutopia/Dystopia: Examining Ready Player One
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Toronto
2012
Papers
‘And Serve the Cause of Freedom:’ Food Conservation and the Patriotic Ideal in World War I America
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Toronto
2011
Papers
Little Americans Do your Bit
Society for Historians of Childhood and Youth Biennial Meeting
New York, NY
2011
Papers
‘To Save the World for God and Man:’ Imagery of Childhood and American Propaganda, 1917-1919
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
State College, PA
2010
Papers
Witness to Dystopia: The Wandering Jew in Frank Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Milwaukee, WI
2010
Papers
‘In a Free and Powerful Country:’ Mordecai Noah’s Utopia and Jewish-American Identity, 1818-1845,”
Biennial Scholars' Conference on American Jewish History
New York
2010
Papers
‘Their Own Glorious Nationality:’ Jewish Identity in the Utopias of Mordecai Noah, Theodor Herzl, and Michael Chabon
Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S. (MELUS) Annual Meeting
Scranton, PA
2009
Papers
A Goodly and Flourishing Tree: Mordecai Noah and Nineteenth-Century American Utopianism
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Wrightsville Beach, NC
2009
Papers
Utopian Literature and Jewish Identity in Gilded-Age America
Organization of American Historians (OAH) Annual Meeting
Seattle
2008
Papers
‘Next Year in Ararat:’ Zionism and Utopia in the Writings of Mordecai Noah, Theodor Herzl, and Michael Chabon
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Portland, Maine
2007
Papers
Apocalypse or Ideal State? Henry Mendes, Solomon Schindler, and Utopian Thought in Gilded Age America
American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting
Atlanta, GA
2007
Papers
‘Religion is the Greatest Fact of History:’ The World’s Parliament of Religions and Utopian Spectacle in Gilded-Age America
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Toronto
2006 - 2007
Exhibits
“Imaginary Cities: Fictions of Utopian Space in the Early Modern World”
Penn State University Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections
University Park, PA
I assisted with the compilation and organization of a Rare Books display featuring utopian fiction and ephemera from intentional communities are part of a University Libraries display
2006
Papers
Young West and Looking Ahead-Utopian Themes in American Judaism, 1890-1910
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Colorada Springs
2005
Papers
The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Responding to Bellamy in Gilded Age America
Society for Utopian Studies (SUS) Annual Meeting
Memphis, TN
2005
Post Civil War Utopian FictionPenn State Hazleton Faculty Talks
2004
Papers
'Conspiracy, Scandal, and ‘Counter Subversion’: America’s Anti-Catholic Tradition in Twentieth-Century Print Culture
American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting
Washington, DC