My research combines the historical study of German culture with theoretical analyses. I have published broadly on the political culture of Weimar democracy and am currently completing my manuscript, Invisible Fatherland: Constitutional Patriotism in Weimar Germany. Building on my earlier work on the discursive forms and symbolic practices of Weimar democracy, the study explores the republic as the birthplace of German constitutional patriotism. The metaphor of the “invisible fatherland,” coined by German law professor Gustav Radbruch in 1922, captures the challenge that faced the young democracy: namely to rally the nation around legally coded principles and ideas—such as equality and justice—that are as such are imperceptible to the senses. The republic’s symbolic politics endeavored to make these norms and ideals visible and concrete, thus drawing the contours of a liberal democratic alternative to the extremist politics the interwar period also engendered.

My second book project on "Hitler and the Holocaust: History, Responsibility, Legacy" (under contract with Bloomsbury Academic) provides a concise and adaptable survey of the German dictator and his genocidal regime within an interdisciplinary and transnational framework. The focus is on deeply intertwined processes of biographical and societal radicalization that culminated in the targeted murder of six million European Jews. Progressing from deeply contextualized historical biography to the societal normalization of hatred and genocide, the study shows that Hitler did not pursue his murderous politics on his own. Both his rise and regime depended on the support of ordinary German men and women as well as collaboration in allied territories. While there would have been no Holocaust without Hitler, understanding his role in the Holocaust requires us to broaden our perspective to the enablers and followers that empowered his rise and regime. The book concludes with a discussion of Hitler’s changing representations and legacies today.

My third research interest revolves around the idiom and culture of sustainability or Nachhaltigkeit. In the United States we sometimes struggle to imagine what it takes to become a more sustainable society. Germany is widely regarded as a frontrunner in environmental policy and practice. My edited volume on German environmental sustainability aims to engender a fruitful transatlantic discussion as to which of these interventions are transferable to the United States. The initial lecture series that produced this body of work was connected to a pilot undergraduate course offered in the German Department and the Department of Science, Technology, and Society. My own article in the edited book explores the German energy revolution with an eye to the country's decision to phase out nuclear power. I expect to develop this exploratory essay into a book-length historical study of the German culture of sustainability.