Biography

Derek Penslar is William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History at Harvard. He approaches modern Jewish history from a transnational and global perspective. His work encompasses the history of the Jews in modern West and Central Europe, North America, and Palestine/Israel. He is particularly interested in the relationship between modern Israel and diaspora Jewish societies, global nationalist movements, European colonialism, and post-colonial states.

Penslar has taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, the University of Toronto, and Oxford University, where he served as the inaugural Stanley Lewis Professor of Modern Israel Studies from 2012 until 2016. He co-edits (with Anita Shapira) The Journal of Israeli History and serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Jewish Studies, Jewish Social Studies, and Israel Studies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Academy for Jewish Research.

Penslar's books include Zionism and Technocracy: The Engineering of Jewish Settlement in Palestine, 1870-1918 (1991); In Search of Jewish Community: Jewish Identities in Germany and Austria, 1918-1933 (1998, co-edited with Michael Brenner), Shylock’s Children: Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe (2001); Orientalism and the Jews (co-edited with Ivan Kalmar, 2004), Israel in History: The Jewish State in Comparative Perspective (2006); The Origins of the State of Israel 1882-1948: A Documentary History (with Eran Kaplan, 2011). and Jews and the Military: A History (2013).

He is currently writing two books: Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader (for Yale University Press’ “Jewish Lives” series) and Zionism: An Emotional State (for Rutgers University Press’ “Keywords in Jewish Studies” series).

Affiliations

• William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History, Harvard University
• Resident Faculty, CES, Harvard University
• Co-Chair, Jews in Modern Europe, CES, Harvard University
• Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
• Fellow, American Academy for Jewish Research

Topics of Expertise