Mark A. Peterson

Mark Peterson, a specialist in early North America and the Atlantic world, joined the Yale History Department in July 2018. He earned his Ph.D. in History at Harvard University, and taught previously at the University of Iowa from 1998 to 2007, and at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2007 to 2018, where he was Chair of the History Department from 2015-2018. His most recent book is The City-State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865 (Princeton University Press, 2019, paperback, 2020), and he is also the author of The Price of Redemption: The Spiritual Economy of Puritan New England (Stanford University Press, 1997). He is at work on two new books for Princeton University Press: The Long Crisis of the Constitution, a historical account of the US Constitution as a political compromise based on 18th-century conceptions of power and property; and Revolution’s Ends: A History of the American Revolution for the 21st Century, a new narrative history of the major conflicts of late-18th-century North America. Besides these current projects, Professor Peterson is planning a third volume of his New England trilogy, focused on the transformation of material culture, consumer demand, and public expenditure from the 16th to the 19th century. He is also completing an edited volume of the writings of John Hull, a 17th-century Boston merchant, mint-master, and political leader, for publication by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. In addition, Professor Peterson serves as co-editor for the book series, American Beginnings, published by the University of Chicago Press.