History Department - Queens College

Peter Conolly-Smith

Assistant Professor

I was lucky; I got to go to an excellent school and I benefited from the instruction of inspiring teachers. Since I received my Ph.D. in 1996, I've taught at a number of places, both prestigious (Columbia, for example) and lowly (I'll spare you the details; let's just say they advertise on the subway). No matter where I teach, I believe students deserve the highest-level, most well-prepared, enthusiastic expert instruction available. That's what I try to offer. I set high standards for myself, but also for my students. Students willing to put in the work required to achieve scholarly excellence will benfit from my classes. But slackers... BEWARE!

Areas of Specialization

Late 19th-20th Century U.S. History
Immigration, Race & Ethnicity (Specialization: German-Americans)
U.S. Cultural History Film and Literature

Books and Articles of Interest

Books:

Translating America: An Ethnic Press Visualizes American Popular Culture, 1895-1918 (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2004).

"Hugo Munsterberg's Photoplay: A Psychological Study," in Wilfried Fluck and Werner Sollors, eds., German? American? Literature? (New York: Peter Lang, 2002).

"Kulturkrieg: Direktor Christians' Little Theater at Irving Place and German-Language Drama in New York, 1890-1920," in Orm Overland, ed. Not English Only: Redefining "American" in American Studies(Amsterdam: V.U. Press, 2001).

"Ersatz-Drama and Ethnic (Self-) Parody: Adolf Phillipp and the Decline of New York's German-Language Stage, 1890-1920," in Werner Sollors, ed., Multilingual America (New York: N.Y.U. Press, 1998).

Works in Progress

I am currently completing chapter-length articles on a number of subjects, including:

Bush-administration diplomacy prior to the Iraq War
19th Century German-American serial novels
The early history of the FBI
Translations of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion
Representations of Sexual Violence in WWII & Vietnam Movies

Contacts

Phone: (718) 997-5380
peter.conollysmith@qc.cuny.edu