Gettysburg College faculty members embody the same spirit of intellectual curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge, and the practice of enduring skills that they impart upon their students. During the 2023-2024 academic year—in addition to advising, conducting research, mentoring, and teaching—eight Gettysburg professors published major works in their respective areas of scholarly interest:
- “The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher” by Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Era Studies Peter S. Carmichael
- “Urban Aesthetics in Early Modern England: The Invention of the Metaphysical” by English Chair Christopher D’Addario
- “January 6 and the Politics of History: In Conversation with Jim Downs” by Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Era Studies and History Jim Downs
- “Giants and Dwarfs in European Art and Culture, c. 1350-1700: Real, Imagined, Metaphorical” by Art and Art History Prof. Felicia Else
- “In On the Joke: The Ethics of Humor and Comedy” by Philosophy Prof. Steve Gimbel and Thomas Wilk ’05
- “Serpents of War: An American Officer’s Story of World War I Combat and Captivity” by History Prof. of War and Memory Studies Ian Isherwood ’00
- “Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit” by German Studies Chair and Affiliate of Jewish Studies Kerry Wallach
- “Disrupting Hierarchy in Education: Students and Teachers Collaborating for Social Change” by Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams
Learn more about these works researched, written, and edited by our faculty scholars.
“The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher”
Through a series of original essays, readers will find dynamic perspectives on contemporary scholarship of the Civil War era. Taking inspiration from noted historian Gary W. Gallagher, co-editors Peter S. Carmichael (Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College), Caroline Janney (John L. Nau III Professor in History of the American Civil War in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia), and Aaron Sheehan-Dean (Fred C. Frey Professor of History at Louisiana State University) feature nine essays from leading scholars in Civil War era studies who uncover a diverse range of themes from one of our nation’s greatest conflicts. Topics covered in the work include how Indigenous communities navigated the secession winter, the challenges African Americans confronted as they pursued landownership in the postwar period, and how citizens contributed to the collective memory of the conflict through their words and actions.
“The War That Made America” delves into Gallagher’s scholarly legacy and considers the present and future of scholarship of the Civil War era.
Editor’s Note: Gettysburg College mourns the loss of renowned historian and Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies Peter S. Carmichael, who passed away from a sudden illness on July 21. In a statement to the campus community, Gettysburg College President Bob Iuliano said, “Pete’s impact on this community and in the community of Civil War scholars has been immeasurable. He has helped us to see the Civil War through a broader and more nuanced lens and along the way guided legions of Gettysburg College students into the field of public history.”
“Urban Aesthetics in Early Modern England: The Invention of the Metaphysical”
“The book explores the intimate link between writing and place. It does so by examining a famous aesthetic shift that occurred in the literature of Renaissance England, the beginnings of the metaphysical style of poetry. It argues that this new form arose out of a particular set of geographic, intellectual, and social circumstances that existed in 1590s London and its urban environs.
“Beyond situating literature amid the everyday existences of its authors, the book also seeks to rewrite English Renaissance literary history. It argues that the rise of the metaphysical aesthetic occurred across a number of urban genres throughout the 1590s—not just lyric, but also earlier in the prose pamphlet, as well as the verse satire.
“I was continuously surprised by some of the fascinating details about everyday life in Shakespeare’s London. For example, running water might have been the most persistent sound in the city. Only half walls or curtains often separated people’s dwellings. I won’t get into how the city dealt with food waste. On a more literary note, I learned that literature is not produced in a generic silo. We need to look across communities and across genres to understand the influences that produced a particular piece of art.
“There is a lot I appreciate about being on the faculty at Gettysburg. I think that the close relationships that we can establish with students across four years at such a small institution is especially rewarding. I also appreciate the independence we have to bring our research and interests into the classroom in new and innovative ways.”
— English Chair Christopher D’Addario
“January 6 and the Politics of History: In Conversation with Jim Downs”
“The book is part of a series, History in the Headlines, that I co-edit for the University of Georgia Press. The series takes current events and places them in historical context.
“For the Jan. 6 book (and others in the series), I bring together the nation’s leading historians and have a conversation about the topic. This volume on Jan. 6 included Jill Lepore, a Harvard University professor and a staff reporter for The New Yorker; Julian Zelizer, who teaches at Princeton University and has a column for CNN; and others whose names appear on the book’s cover.
“The conversation was a great opportunity for historians to grapple with Jan 6. in real time. They considered questions like what do we call Jan. 6? A protest? An insurrection? What are the roots of Jan. 6? Can it be traced to backlash against Reconstruction after the Civil War or to the rise of the right with the emergence of Newt Gingrich, or, more recently, Donald Trump, or even as a backlash against COVID-19 lockdowns and the Black Lives Matter protests that resurfaced in the summer of 2020?
“One key question considered was whether historians have a role to play in the wake of Jan. 6. As such, this book will not only provide context to the still-unfolding saga about Jan. 6, but it could also be used in the Gettysburg History Department’s methods course since it probes the role of the historian.
“I think one of the most important parts about the book is that it shows the behind the scenes of how a group of the nation’s most talented historians wrestled with the meaning of Jan 6. and how to place it in historical context.
“Teaching many engaged students at Gettysburg College inspires me to publish books that speak to their interests that could be adopted into my courses as teaching tools.”
— Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Era Studies and History Jim Downs
“Giants and Dwarfs in European Art and Culture, ca. 1350-1700: Real, Imagined, Metaphorical”
“This book of scholarly studies offers new insights into the vogue for giants and dwarfs that flourished in late medieval and early modern Europe. Some chronicle the lives of real giants and dwarfs at royal courts; others present imagined figures from literature and ephemeral decorations. They could elicit fear, repugnance, and laughter but could also inspire awe, respect, affection, friendship, and devotion.
“The whole venture began as an idea of mine for a conference session that seemed out of the box and playful. I was doing a study on giants and a colleague of mine, Robin O’Bryan, specialized in dwarfs. To my surprise, the two were often paired in the Renaissance or Early Modern era. As we pursued this theme as a book project, it wound up being a very fruitful and nuanced topic uncovering a much broader range of experiences and expressions.
“Thanks to the support from Gettysburg College, I have the chance to pursue my passion for art, culture, and history in research and teaching. I was able to carry out important research on my own study, and we were able to publish this book with the imagery that it needed. I’ve already heard from the conference grapevine that the book has been received quite enthusiastically by some prominent scholars. I actually passed the book around and shared this story with my Survey of Western Art Class, and they [Else’s students] were pumped for me!”
— Art and Art History Prof. Felicia Else
“In On the Joke: The Ethics of Humor and Comedy”
“I collaborated with Thomas Wilk ’05 on this fourth volume of De Gruyter’s ‘Studies in Philosophy of Humor’ series. I taught Wilk’s First-Year Seminar Einstein in Wonderland: Physics, Philosophy, and Other Nonsense at Gettysburg.
“There is a lot of concern these days over who can tell what jokes. Where is the line between an acceptable and a morally problematic joke? On the other side are comedians who argue that jokes are just jokes—they don’t mean anything. On the other hand, there are those who are putting very rigid rules in place, especially if the joke involves groups that suffer oppression. Some argue that only members of a group can joke about that group. Others hold that it is morally permissible to ‘punch up,’ tell jokes about those with moral social capital, but never to ‘punch down,’ or joke about those with less than you.
“We argue that both extremes have insights that are important, but a successful joking ethic depends on the following:
- Who the joker is.
- Who the audience is.
- The content of the joke.
- The context in which the joke is told.
“Other views focus on one of these as the sole morally relevant factor, but we developed a view that accounts for all four.
“This project connects the two elements of teaching at Gettysburg College that I love most. First is the connection with students. Students are not just names on a roster to be graded, but real people you see grow over their four years at Gettysburg and beyond.
“Second is the freedom to explore new, interesting, and contemporary questions. I am a philosopher of physics by training, but at Gettysburg College, as a liberal arts institution, I am not pigeon-holed into only teaching my specialization. I can broaden my scholarly focus to include new subfields like the philosophy of humor. The chance to work in a novel field alongside a former student has been a true pleasure—and lots of laughs.”
— Philosophy Prof. Steve Gimbel
“Serpents of War: An American Officer’s Story of World War I Combat and Captivity”
“‘Serpents of War’ is an edited memoir written by a First World War American officer, Harry Dravo Parkin. The memoir is a fascinating story of combat, leadership, and resilience in the war. Parkin commanded a hard-fought infantry battalion in the 79th Division that was severely tested in the Meuse-Argonne in 1918. He was wounded and captured after leading a bayonet charge.
“What makes the story extra unique for the College is that Parkin’s five-volume unpublished memoir was donated to Gettysburg College Special Collections by his widow in the late 1940s. Literary scholar Steve Trout and I felt this memoir needed to be published. Thankfully, our editors at the University Press of Kansas agreed.
“Steve and I were able to edit the memoir down to one volume while still preserving Parkin’s voice as an author. In the process of writing the book, we got in contact with Parkin’s grandson, who shared with us his family scrapbook from World War I. These photos are now in the book. We wrote a critical introduction that contextualizes Parkin’s life and service. There are illuminating annotations throughout the book to help guide the reader. It really is a gem of a war memoir that will interest anyone who is interested in how the First World War was fought.
“Gettysburg College is the best liberal arts college in the country to teach war studies. My students, first and foremost, are the best part about teaching at Gettysburg.”
— Prof. of War and Memory Studies Ian Isherwood ’00
“Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit”
“I first discovered the work of Rahel Szalit while doing research in Berlin archives. I kept finding references to her in Jewish newspapers from the 1920s, but there wasn’t much information available about who she was. At some point I realized that I was the only one who was interested and motivated enough to tell her story. As a scholar of literature and visual culture, I was well positioned to analyze her literary illustrations, and I can speak or read many of the languages Szalit knew: German, Yiddish, and French.
“One of the most exciting things about this project was stumbling across sources I did know existed. The best example is a personal letter that Rahel Szalit wrote to her friend Eleonore Kalkowska in 1934. This letter was written in Polish, and another scholar, who was writing a biography of Kalkowska, found the letter among papers kept by Kalkowska’s grandson. This is an especially rare find because we mostly have professional correspondence by Szalit to various important figures whose letters are kept in archives.
“Seven Gettysburg students and alumni helped with this project. Madeleine Neiman ’21 and Jack Herr ’23 served as research assistants while I was writing the book. Elizabeth Topolosky ’14 helped with early research on Szalit. Several students [and alumni] helped with the final stages of proofreading the manuscript: Riley Clipson ’24, Jacob Hunkins ’24, and Alex Meagher ’25.
“In addition, Karolina Hicke ’14, a visiting assistant professor of German Studies at Swarthmore College, provided translation assistance with Polish-language documents.
“The best part of being on the faculty at Gettysburg College is the freedom to develop courses and conduct research about whatever topics interest me. My hope is that my students will take away a deeper understanding of cultural diversity and at least a modest commitment to bringing about change in the world.”
— German Studies Chair and Affiliate of Jewish Studies Kerry Wallach
“Disrupting Hierarchy in Education: Students and Teachers Collaborating for Social Change”
“This book documents students and educators—of varied stripes—in the United States, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Jamaica working together on social change projects so as to disrupt hierarchy in education. We believe that hierarchy in education is a colonial relic, and it can no longer serve our contemporary globalized world. For this project, students and educators had to co-write the chapters in this book.
“To model this, I invited Hana Huskic ’22 and Christina M. Noto ’19 to edit the book with me. This book emerged out of my course Education for Social Change, which is built around ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire—my favorite book—and critical pedagogy. I wanted to show the academy that undergraduate students have immense capabilities to co-edit books alongside more established academics; undergraduates rarely get this opportunity to co-edit books from prestigious presses.
“I mentored Hana and Christina, and they mentored me too. When we see each other as both teacher and student, deeper learning occurs, and the relational bonds we create extend far beyond graduation. We are together making lifelong friendships, dedicated to varied projects focused on social change.
“When I walk into the classroom, no matter how I am feeling, most times, my spirit comes alive. I use a pedagogy of vulnerability in the classroom to humanize myself, but to also model to students that they should show up as whole beings. They don’t have to leave any parts of themselves outside the classroom. When we show up as whole beings, we are able to co-construct community, and to me, community is the bedrock of any human endeavor.
“This published book is a reflection of this approach of mine. We are building community in the classroom so that these students can then go on to change this world: a product of a truly consequential education from Gettysburg College—a place known in the American imagination for war memorialization, but we intend to also make it known for producing innovative peace and justice leaders whom the world needs now!”
— Daria L. and Eric J. Wallach Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams
Edited by Michael Vyskocil
Book collection photo by Abbey Frisco
Posted: 08/07/24