Elliot Neaman

Elliot Y. Neaman

Professor

Full-Time Faculty
Socials

Biography

Elliot Neaman received a BA in sociology from the University of British Columbia in 1979, an MA in history and philosophy from the Freie Universität in Berlin in 1985, and his PhD in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992. His areas of specialization are Modern Germany, The Holocaust, Late Modern Intellectual History, post 1945 Global History, European Diplomatic & Economic History, and theory and methodology of the historical sciences. His first book on the German writer Ernst Jünger was published by UC Press in 1992. He has co-edited two other books and is currently working on a book about the Counter-Culture and the Cold War in post WW II Germany, as well as a textbook of Modern Intellectual History. His areas of specialization are Modern Germany, The Holocaust, Late Modern Intellectual History, post 1945 Global History, European Diplomatic & Economic History, and theory and methodology of the historical sciences. His hobbies include mountain biking, tennis, cooking and guitar. He has one daughter, Emma, born in 2001.

I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1957. I studied sociology at the University of British Columbia (1975-1979), history and philosophy at the University of Zürich (1980-82), history at the Free University of Berlin (1983-1985) and history at the University of California, Berkeley (1985-1992). I began teaching at USF in 1993. I was president of the USF Faculty Association from 2005-2018. I have one daughter, Emma, who is currently studying at the University of Washington. I live in San Rafael, CA. I live together with my partner and five beautiful cats.

Research Areas

  • Modern European and global intellectual history
  • History of modern Germany
  • History of espionage
  • History of European diplomacy
  • Military history (WW1 and WWII)
  • History of global pandemics

Appointments

  • President USFFA, 2005–2018

Education

  • PhD in History, University of California at Berkeley
  • MA in History and Philosophy, Freie Universität in Berlin
  • BA in Sociology, University of British Columbia

Awards & Distinctions

  • USF Distinguished Research Award, 1999
  • Best Book of the Year, 2016, for Free Radicals, Independent Booksellers of America

Selected Publications

  • A Dubious Past; Ernst Jünger and the Politics of Literature after Nazism  (UC Press, 1999)
  • A German Officer in Occupied Paris, 1941-1945  (Columbia University Press, 2018)
  • Free Radicals; Agitators, Hippies, Urban Guerrillas and Germany's Youth Revolt of the 1960s and 1970s (Telos Press, 2016)
  • The Modernist Imagination (Berghahn Press, 2009)