Lizabeth Cohen
Encyclopedia
Lizabeth Cohen is the current Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies and Chair of the History Department at Harvard University
. Currently, she teaches courses in 20th century America
, material and popular culture, and gender, urban, and working-class history
. She has also served as the director of the undergraduate program in history. Once Barbara Grosz retires as Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
at the end of the Spring 2011 semester, Professor Cohen will succeed her as the interim Dean beginning on July 1, 2011, while a permanent replacement is found.
, in Bergen County, New Jersey
. She earned her A.B.
degree from Princeton University
, and both her M.A.
and Ph.D.
from the University of California, Berkeley
, where she worked with labor historian David Brody
and cultural historians Lawrence Levine and Paula Fass, among others.
Cohen worked as a secondary school teacher and in history and art museums. She rose from the position of assistant to associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University
between 1986 to 1992 and served as associate professor and full professor at New York University
between 1992 to 1997, before joining the faculty at Harvard. She was appointed the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University for the 2007-08 academic year.
She is best known for Making a New Deal, a book that pioneered the social history of 20th century American politics. In that book, a case study of Chicago, Cohen argues that working-class urban residents found a common identity as Americans and as New Dealers as the result of their incorporation into a burgeoning mass culture and especially as the result of the devastating effects of the Depression on urban ethnic stores, businesses, and institutions. Cohen also offers a provocative argument about the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
during the 1930s. She contends that a working-class "culture of unity" broke down ethnic divisions and animosities and made possible widescale industrial unionization.
Cohen's analysis of working-class popular culture (shopping, movie-going, and radio) during the 1920s was a pioneering effort in the study of vernacular consumerism, a theme that she developed with more of a political focus in her most recent book, A Consumers' Republic. Through a deeply documented history of urban and suburban New Jersey, embedded in a larger analysis about the transformation of post-New Deal liberalism, Cohen explores the ways that people's identities as consumers shaped their politics after World War II. Building on her interests on architecture, planning, and the built environment, the book is particularly noteworthy for its engagement with earlier work on the politics of suburbanization by scholars like Kenneth T. Jackson
. Cohen explores such topics as the rise of shopping malls, the emergence of a consumers' rights movement, and the relationship of consumerism to civil rights activism in the mid-twentieth century. A Consumer's Republic begins with her recollections of growing up in suburban New Jersey
and draws from extensive research in archives in the Garden State.
, an American Council of Learned Societies
Fellow, a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
and is a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute
, University of Oxford
. She has also served as President of the Urban History Association.
Her 1990 article, "Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots: The Experience of Chicago Workers in the 1920s," won the American Studies Association's Constance Rourke Prize for the best article published in the journal American Quarterly.
Her 1990 book, Making a New Deal, won the Bancroft Prize
in 1991 for the best book published in American history and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. Currently, she teaches courses in 20th century America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, material and popular culture, and gender, urban, and working-class history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
. She has also served as the director of the undergraduate program in history. Once Barbara Grosz retires as Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard is an educational institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the semiautonomous components of Harvard University. It is heir to the name and buildings of Radcliffe College, but unlike that historical institution, its focus is directed...
at the end of the Spring 2011 semester, Professor Cohen will succeed her as the interim Dean beginning on July 1, 2011, while a permanent replacement is found.
Life and academic career
Cohen grew up in ParamusParamus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
, in Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
. She earned her A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and both her M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where she worked with labor historian David Brody
David Brody
David Brody is a professor emeritus of history at the University of California-Davis.-Life and education:Brody was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Barnet and Ida Brody, who were immigrants to the United States. Working his way through Harvard University, he received his bachelor's degree in...
and cultural historians Lawrence Levine and Paula Fass, among others.
Cohen worked as a secondary school teacher and in history and art museums. She rose from the position of assistant to associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
between 1986 to 1992 and served as associate professor and full professor at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
between 1992 to 1997, before joining the faculty at Harvard. She was appointed the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University for the 2007-08 academic year.
She is best known for Making a New Deal, a book that pioneered the social history of 20th century American politics. In that book, a case study of Chicago, Cohen argues that working-class urban residents found a common identity as Americans and as New Dealers as the result of their incorporation into a burgeoning mass culture and especially as the result of the devastating effects of the Depression on urban ethnic stores, businesses, and institutions. Cohen also offers a provocative argument about the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
during the 1930s. She contends that a working-class "culture of unity" broke down ethnic divisions and animosities and made possible widescale industrial unionization.
Cohen's analysis of working-class popular culture (shopping, movie-going, and radio) during the 1920s was a pioneering effort in the study of vernacular consumerism, a theme that she developed with more of a political focus in her most recent book, A Consumers' Republic. Through a deeply documented history of urban and suburban New Jersey, embedded in a larger analysis about the transformation of post-New Deal liberalism, Cohen explores the ways that people's identities as consumers shaped their politics after World War II. Building on her interests on architecture, planning, and the built environment, the book is particularly noteworthy for its engagement with earlier work on the politics of suburbanization by scholars like Kenneth T. Jackson
Kenneth T. Jackson
Kenneth Terry Jackson is a professor of history and social sciences at Columbia University. A frequent television guest, he is best known as an urban historian and a preeminent authority on New York City, where he lives on the Upper West Side....
. Cohen explores such topics as the rise of shopping malls, the emergence of a consumers' rights movement, and the relationship of consumerism to civil rights activism in the mid-twentieth century. A Consumer's Republic begins with her recollections of growing up in suburban New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and draws from extensive research in archives in the Garden State.
Awards and memberships
Cohen has been a Guggenheim FellowJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, an American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
Fellow, a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard is an educational institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the semiautonomous components of Harvard University. It is heir to the name and buildings of Radcliffe College, but unlike that historical institution, its focus is directed...
and is a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute
Rothermere American Institute
The Rothermere American Institute is an institution at the University of Oxford dedicated to the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the USA. It was opened in May 2001 by US President Bill Clinton and hosts regular conferences, lectures and seminars, particularly in the fields of American...
, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. She has also served as President of the Urban History Association.
Her 1990 article, "Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots: The Experience of Chicago Workers in the 1920s," won the American Studies Association's Constance Rourke Prize for the best article published in the journal American Quarterly.
Her 1990 book, Making a New Deal, won the Bancroft Prize
Bancroft Prize
The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948 by a bequest from Frederic Bancroft...
in 1991 for the best book published in American history and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
The Philip Taft Labor History Book Award is sponsored by the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in cooperation with the Labor and Working-Class History Association for books relating to labor history of the United States...
, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
Solely authored books
- A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. New York: Vintage Books, 2003. ISBN 0375707379
- Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0521381347
Solely authored articles
- "Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots: The Experience of Chicago Workers in the 1920s." American Quarterly. 41:1 (March 1989).
- "From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America." American Historical Review. 101 (October 1996).