I am from Higgins Beach, in Scarborough, Maine, six miles south of Portland. After spending five years as track announcer at Scarborough Downs, I left to study fulltime in graduate school, where my advisor was Akira Iriye. I received my B.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1993) from Harvard, my M.A. from the University of Chicago (1989). Before coming to CUNY, I taught at Arizona State and Williams; I also have served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Humanities at Tel Aviv University.
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My fall 2024 Brooklyn courses will be:
- US-Middle East Relations
- Fall Term Senior Thesis
- US survey
A full list of my courses is here. A full list of my books, scholarly articles, and presentations is here.
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Follow me on twitter here. I previously blogged on the Duke lacrosse case at Durham-in-Wonderland (2006-14); as part of a joint blog of academics at Minding the Campus (2008-2020); and as part of a joint blog of historians (Cliopatria @ History News Network, 2004-11).
Feel free to e-mail me or call me (207-329-8456) with any comments or questions.
Empire
We live in an anti-imperial age–yet so much of our contemporary international crises (and how the United States currently approaches them). The ending of four empires (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) after World War I continues to affect world affairs. (The Ottoman Empire, to take one example, is the last entity to possess internationally-recognized sovereignty over the Gaza Strip.) The post-World War II collpases of the Japanese and then (shortly thereafter) the British and French empires similarly shape contemporary matters (consider for one example, the renewed tensions in West Africa or the Taiwan Straits).
This seminar will examine how the collapse of a variety of 20th century empires continues to shape international affairs in the 21st century.
As always, each session will include 10 or 15 minutes on contemporary affairs; and then will end with a Q&A period (questions can be submitted in advance, too). Wednesdays at 10.30 live; videos posted by 1.30pm on the Vimeo site and will stay up through the summer.
Schedule:
March 20: German and Austrian empires
April 3: Ottoman Empire
April 17: Russian Empire
May 1: Japanese Empire
May 15: British and French empires
May 29: American empire
Elections and Party Transformation
As things stand now, we appear to be headed for a rematch between Biden and Trump, with the race for the Republican nomination seemingly all but over. As both parties confirm their presumptive nominees, the outcome provides a chance to examine the profound changes in political parties and partisanship over the past 60 years. We’ll focus slightly on the transformation of the Republican Party, but will cover both sides.
The goal of the seminar will be to trace the contemporary political developments–which the seminar will explore–through the historical lens of key elections and party developments since 1968, through the lens of continuity and change in American politics.
As always, each session will end with 15 minutes or so on comtemporary matters plus a Q&A period (questions can be submitted in advance, too). Wednesdays at 10.30 live; videos posted by 1.30pm.
Schedule:
March 13: 1968
March 27: 1980
April 10: 1994-1994
April 24: 2000-2004
May 8: 2016
May 22: Heading into 2024
KC Johnson 
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