About Michael O'Sullivan

Michael E. O’Sullivan is Professor of History at Marist College where he teaches courses about Modern Europe. He published Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918-1965 with University of Toronto Press in 2018. It was recently awarded the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize for 2018.
Professor of History, Marist College
Michael's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Michael:

R. A. Bennette, "Diagnosing Dissent: Hysterics, Deserters, and Conscientious Objectors in Germany During World War One" (Cornell UP, 2020)

February 23, 2021

Diagnosing Dissent

Rebecca Ayako Bennette

Although physicians during World War I, and scholars since, have addressed the idea of disorders such as shell shock as inchoate flights into sickness…

Jason Lutes, "Berlin" (Drawn and Quarterly, 2018)

February 11, 2021

Berlin

Jason Lutes

In his pathbreaking graphic novel, Berlin (Drawn and Quarterly, 2018), Jason Lutes creates a multifaceted exploration of urban life during the Weimar…

Helmut Walser Smith, "Germany: A Nation in its Time" (Liveright, 2020)

September 7, 2020

Germany

Helmut Walser Smith

In his groundbreaking 500-year history entitled Germany: A Nation in its Time (Liveright, 2020), Helmut Walser Smith challenges traditional perception…

Molly Loberg, "The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914-1945" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

August 26, 2020

The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin

Molly Loberg

Who owns the street? This is the question that animates The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914-1945 (Cam…

Javier Samper Vendrell, "The Seduction of Youth: Print Culture and Homosexual Rights in the Weimar Republic" (U Toronto Press, 2020)

June 3, 2020

The Seduction of Youth

Javier Samper Vendrell

The Weimar Republic is well-known for its gay rights movement and recent scholarship has demonstrated some of its contradictory elements. In his recen…

Christopher A. Molnar, "Memory, Politics, and Yugoslav Migrations to Postwar Germany" (Indiana UP, 2018)

January 3, 2020

Memory, Politics, and Yugoslav Migrations to Postwar Germany

Christopher A. Molnar

During Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis, more than a hundred thousand asylum seekers from the western Balkans sought refuge in Germany. This was nothing n…

Thomas Kühne, "The Rise and Fall of Comradeship: Hitler’s Soldiers, Male Bonding and Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

December 17, 2019

The Rise and Fall of Comradeship

Thomas Kühne

In The Rise and Fall of Comradeship: Hitler’s Soldiers, Male Bonding and Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2017), Pr…

Philipp Stelzel, "History after Hitler: A Transatlantic Enterprise" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

December 2, 2019

History after Hitler

Philipp Stelzel

The decades following the end of World War II witnessed the establishment of a large and diverse German-American scholarly community studying modern G…

Amy Carney, "Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS" (Toronto UP, 2018)

October 25, 2019

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Amy Carney

From 1931 to 1945, leaders of the SS sought to transform their organization into a racially-elite family community that would serve as the Third Reich…

Brittany Lehman, "Teaching Migrant Children in West Germany and Europe, 1945-1992" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

September 30, 2019

Teaching Migrant Children in West Germany and Europe, 1945-1992

Brittany Lehman

In her new book, Teaching Migrant Children in West Germany and Europe, 1945-1992 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Brittany Lehman examines the right to edu…

Tiffany Florvil and Vanessa Plumly, "Rethinking Black German Studies: Approaches, Interventions, and Histories" (Peter Lang, 2018)

July 3, 2019

Rethinking Black German Studies

Tiffany Florvil and Vanessa Plumly

Black German Studies is an interdisciplinary field that has experienced significant growth over the past three decades, integrating subjects such as g…

Jeffrey T. Zalar, "Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770-1914" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

June 25, 2019

Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770-1914

Jeffrey Zalar

Popular conceptions of Catholic censorship, symbolized above all by the Index of Forbidden Books, figure prominently in secular definitions of freedom…

Kara Ritzheimer, "'Trash,' Censorship, and National Identity in Early Twentieth-Century Germany" (Cambridge UP, 2016)

June 18, 2019

“Trash,” Censorship, and National Identity in Early Twentieth-Century Germany

Kara Ritzheimer

Convinced that sexual immorality and unstable gender norms were endangering national recovery after World War One, German lawmakers drafted a constitu…

Heike Bauer, "The Hirschfeld Archives: Violence, Death, and Modern Queer Culture" (Temple UP, 2017)

May 23, 2019

The Hirschfeld Archives

Heike Bauer

Influential sexologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld founded Berlin's Institute of Sexual Sciences in 1919 as a home and workplace to study homosexua…

Clayton Whisnant, "Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880-1945" (Harrington Park Press, 2016)

May 8, 2019

Queer Identities and Politics in Germany

Clayton Whisnant

Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed key developments in LGBT history, including the growth of the world's first hom…

Dagmar Herzog, "Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe" (U Wisconsin Press, 2018)

January 25, 2019

Unlearning Eugenics

Dagmar Herzog

In her new book, Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018), Dagmar Herzog…

Sarah Thomsen Vierra, "Turkish Germans in the Federal Republic of Germany: Immigration, Space, and Belonging, 1961-1990" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

January 14, 2019

Turkish Germans in the Federal Republic of Germany

Sarah Thomsen Vierra

After years of being overlooked, there has been a growing interest among academic historians in the history of Turkish Guest Workers in West Germany. …

Larry E. Jones, "Hitler versus Hindenburg: The 1932 Presidential Elections and the End of the Weimar Republic" (Cambridge UP, 2016)

October 8, 2018

Hitler versus Hindenburg

Larry E. Jones

The failure of democracy during the Weimar Republic is currently at the center of public discussion due to the global populist wave of the last few ye…

Benjamin Carter Hett, "The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic" (Henry Holt, 2018)

September 11, 2018

The Death of Democracy

Benjamin Carter Hett

The downfall of the Weimar Republic in Germany has long fascinated historians, but this catastrophe gained increasing prominence as a touchstone for c…

Jennifer A. Miller, "Turkish Guest Workers in Germany: Hidden Lives and Contested Borders, 1960s to 1980s" (U Toronto Press, 2018)

July 4, 2018

Turkish Guest Workers in Germany

Jennifer A. Miller

During the 1960s, West Germany eagerly courted workers from Turkey to manage a labor shortage during the country’s Economic Miracle. This program caus…

Lisa M. Todd, "Sexual Treason in Germany during the First World War" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)

June 22, 2018

Sexual Treason in Germany during the First World War

Lisa M. Todd

The First World War is usually associated with Trench Warfare, industrial mobilization, and the Lost Generation. In her recent book, Sexual Treason in…

Laurie Marhoefer, "Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis" (U Toronto Press, 2015)

March 19, 2018

Sex and the Weimar Republic

Laurie Marhoefer

The Weimar Republic was home to the first gay rights movement, led by well-known sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. It also inspired many literary and cine…

Mark Edward Ruff, "The Battle for the Catholic Past in Germany, 1945-1980" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

February 21, 2018

The Battle for the Catholic Past in Germany, 1945-1980

Mark Edward Ruff

Historical debates about the actions of the Roman Catholic Church in relationship to the Third Reich have never been restricted to academic presses an…