Phone
Office Location
325 Cullimore Hall
New Jersey Institute of Technology
University Heights
Newark, NJ 07102
Research Interests: 20th century U.S. environmental history, political history, urban history, and the history of environmental justice
Neil Maher received his Ph.D. in history from New York University in 2001, and currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on U.S. environmental and political history, urban environmental history, and environmental justice. He is the author of two books, Apollo in the Age of Aquarius (Harvard University Press, 2017) and Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (Oxford University Press, 2007), and has been interviewed for more than a dozen radio programs, served as historical consultant on several documentaries for the History Channel, PBS, and the American Experience series, and has written for popular audiences in the New York Times and The Washington Post. He is currently co-writing a textbook on the use of visual images in historical research, writing, and teaching, and researching his next monograph on the environmental history of the urban crisis during the 1960s era.
Courses Taught
Environmental Justice in Postwar America
Urban Environmental History
Food History and American Culture
The 1960s Era in American History
Landscape and Culture in America
Topics in Global Environmental History
Research Seminar in Environmental History
Awards
Selected Awards:
Eugene M. Emme Book Award, American Astronautical Society, 2019, for Apollo in the Age of Aquarius.
Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award, Forest History Society, 2009, for Nature’s New Deal.
Senior Fellow, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Ludwig Maximilian University-Munich, 2019.
Charles Warren Center Fellowship for Studies in American History, Harvard University, 2013-2014.
History of the Scientific Exploration of Earth and Space Research Award, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2008-2011.
John W. Kluge Center Research Fellowship, Library of Congress, 2008-2009.
Education
Dartmouth College, B.A., 1986
New York University, M.A., 1994
New York University, Ph.D., 2001
Expertise
20th century U.S. environmental history, political history, urban history, and the history of environmental justice
Publications
Selected Publications:
Books:
Apollo in the Age of Aquarius (Harvard University Press, 2017)
Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Journal Articles:
“Graphic History and the Art of Collaboration,” essay in Reviews in American History 48 (2020): 112-118.
“Bringing the Environment Back In: A Transnational History of Landsat,” in How Knowledge Moves: Writing the Transnational History of Science and Technology, John Krige, ed., University of Chicago Press, 2019: 201-224.
“Whole Earth Without Borders: Earth Photographs, Space Data, and the Importance of Visual Culture Within Environmental History,” in A Field on Fire: Essays on the Future of Environmental History, Mark Hersey and Theodore Steinberg, eds., University of Alabama Press, 2019: 189-208.
“Grounding the Space Race,” special feature essay on the Apollo 11 moon landing in the inaugural edition of Modern American History, 1, no. 1 (March 2018): 141-146.
Popular Essays and Op-Eds:
“The Keys to Ensuring That a Green New Deal Succeeds,” Washington Post, 7 August 2019, available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/07/flaw-all-democrats-green-new-deal-proposals/.
“Not Everyone Wanted a Man on the Moon,” New York Times, Op-Ed, 16 July 2019, available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/opinion/apollo-11-nasa-woodstock.html.
“How Many Times Does a River Have to Burn Before It Matters?,” New York Times, 22 June 2019, available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/climate/cleveland-fire-river-cuyahoga-1969.html