Stephen R. Duncan specializes in United States cultural and intellectual history, with research that examines the intersections of culture and politics in the twentieth century. His first monograph, The Rebel Cafe: Sex, Race, and Politics in Cold War America’s Nightclub Underground, looks at nightclubs from 1934 through the mid-1960s as community institutions and public forums for radical cultural producers and political dissidents, particularly in San Francisco and New York. He received his PhD from the University of Maryland in 2014. Fellowship Leave (Sabbatical) Spring 2024 & Fall 2024
Education:
Ph.D., U.S. History, University of Maryland, 2014
B.A., History, University of Texas at Arlington, 2007
Recent Courses Taught: HIS 10 History of the Modern World
HIS 11 Introduction to the Modern World
HIS 20 American Nation: The Political & Social Development of a People
HIS 23 Social and Intellectual History of Modern America
FYS First Year Seminar
Research Interests: Culture and media, social movements, American empire, gender and sexuality, film history
Honors, Awards, and Affiliations:
PSC-CUNY Research Award, 2015
Walter Rundell Dissertation Prize in United States History, University of Maryland, 2014
Dave Brubeck Papers Research Fellowship, University of the Pacific, 2011
Organization of American Historians, member, 2011-present
American Historical Association, member, 2012-present
Select Publications:
The Rebel Cafe: Sex, Race, and Politics in Cold War America’s Nightclub Underground. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018.
“Social and Cultural History.” In The Routledge History of the Twentieth-Century United States, edited by Jerald Podair and Darren Dochuk. New York: Routledge, 2018.
“Not Just Born Yesterday: Judy Holliday, the Red Scare, and the (Miss-)Uses of Hollywood’s Dumb Blonde Image.” In Smart Chicks on Screen: Representing Women’s Intellect in Film and Television, edited by Laura D’Amore Mattoon. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
“Bohemian Rhapsodies: Sylvanus Cadwallader, Ulysses S. Grant, and Civil War Journalism.” In A Press Divided: Newspaper Coverage of the Civil War, edited by David B. Sachsman. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2014.