History

Mitch Lerner, professor of history and director of the East Asian Studies Center, was recently elected president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). Founded in 1967, SHAFR is the preeminent professional organization for historians of American foreign relations, and has approximately 1,000 members across the globe. Lerner, who is also a faculty fellow at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, a member of the Distinguished Speakers Bureau of the Association for Asian Studies, and the associate editor of the Journal of American-East Asian Relations, will begin his term as vice-president/president-elect on November 1, 2022, and will ascend to the presidency on November 1, 2023.

Associate Professor Emeritus A. Harding Ganz, PhD, has published his book, Ghost Division: The 11th “Gespenster” Panzer Division and the German Armored Force in World War II, about a German armored division, its contribution to tank warfare doctrine, and the division’s relationship post-war with American veterans. It was published through Stackpole Press.

World War II was a dark period in world history. Countless soldiers gave their lives, and hatred developed between countries and cultures. However, some military units developed respect for their counterparts in different countries, and that respect led to joint reunion events consisting of veterans who once fought against each other during wartime. The 11th Panzer Division was acknowledged as one of the best formations in the armed forces of Nazi Germany. It was nicknamed the "Ghost Division" because of its speed and ability to turn up where it was least expected. Formed in 1940, the division adopted as its symbol a sword-wielding specter atop a charging half-track. That image was stenciled on all of its vehicles. The German 11th Panzer Division had a strong impact in the east and west in World War II. The division played a pivotal role in some big engagements.

Lucy E. Murphy, PhD, has just published her book, Great Lakes Creoles: A French-Indian Community on the Northern Borderlands, Prairie du Chien, 1750-1860, through Cambridge University Press.

A case study of one of America's many multi-ethnic border communities, Great Lakes Creoles builds upon recent research on gender, race, ethnicity, and politics as it examines the ways that the old fur trade families experienced and responded to the colonialism of United States expansion. Lucy Murphy examines Indian history with attention to the pluralistic nature of American communities and the ways that power, gender, race, and ethnicity were contested and negotiated in them. She explores the role of women as mediators shaping key social, economic, and political systems, as well as the creation of civil political institutions and the ways that men of many backgrounds participated in and influenced them. Ultimately, Great Lakes Creoles takes a careful look at Native people and their complex families as active members of an American community in the Great Lakes region.

Professor Mitch Lerner has a new edited book coming out, entitled The Cold War at Home and Abroad: Domestic Politics and US Foreign Policy since 1945. The book, which is co-edited with Dr. Andy Johns of BYU, is being published by the University of Kentucky Press.

John Low, PhD, published Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians & the City of Chicago. The book was published by Michigan State University Press in 2016, and was a finalist for the 2017 Midwest Book Award.