Michael Seidman

Michael Seidman is professor of history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His first book, Workers against Work: Labor in Barcelona and Paris during the Popular Fronts, 1936–38 (1991), has been translated into seven languages. Other publications include Republic of Egos: A Social History of the Spanish Civil War (2002, Spanish translation, 2003); The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968 (2004, Spanish translation, 2018, partial French translation, 2018); and The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War (2011, Spanish translation, 2012). His most recent book is Transatlantic Antifascisms from the Spanish Civil War to the end of World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2017, Spanish translation, 2017). Editorial Planeta (Madrid) will translate his current project, Neo-Slavery in Europe, 1914-1945.

Education

B.A. in History, Swarthmore College.
M.A. in History, University of California, Berkeley.
Ph.D. in History, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Specialization in Teaching

European History in a global context from eighteenth to twenty-first century.

Research Interests

Labor, Slavery, Abolition, Revolution, Counter-Revolution, Imperialism, Fascism, Anti-Fascism, Spain, France, Europe.

Professional Service

Referee for Yale University Press, Cambridge University Press, University of Chicago Press, University of Wisconsin Press, Berghahn Books, Cornell University Press, Palgrave/Macmillan, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Louisiana State University Press, University of Nebraska Press, University of Missouri Press, Vanderbilt University Press, CQ Press/Sage, Bloomsbury Publishing, Journal of Contemporary History, International Review of Social History, European Review of History, French Historical Studies, The Historian, French History, Journal of Modern History, International History Review, Hispanic Review, Historia y Política, Ayer, Journal of Urban Studies, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Mediterranean Studies, and Contemporary European History, Agricultural History, War in History, Journal of the History of Radicalism, Critical Historical Studies, Transmodernity, Journal of the History of Sexuality.

Community Engagement

I have taught many courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). These courses on France, Spain, French Revolution, Spanish Civil War, Popular Fronts, Fascism and Antifascism, Resurrection of Slavery, have been popular with audiences of mainly retirees.

Honors & Awards

The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, paperback and electronic, 2011, 352 pages; Spanish-language edition, La Victoria nacional: La eficacia contrarrevolucionaria en la guerra civil, Alianza Editorial, 2012, named by Revista de Prensa one of the fifteen best “revisionist” books on the Spanish Civil War.

The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968, Berghahn Books, Oxford and New York, 2004, paperback and hardback, 310 pages. Selected as a 2005 Choice Outstanding Academic Title.

Republic of Egos: A Social History of the Spanish Civil War, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2002, paperback and hardback, 304 pages. Selected as a 2004 Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Spanish-language edition, A Ras de suelo: Historia social de la República durante la guerra civil, by Alianza Editorial, 2003, was named one of the ten best books on the Spanish Civil War.

Workers against Work: Labor in Paris and Barcelona during the Popular Fronts (1936-38), University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1991, 399 pages. Japanese translation, including a new preface, by Osaka Keizai Hoka University Press, 1998. Paperback edition, Insubordinate Publications, Baltimore, 2001. Partial and updated Greek translation, Red Thread, Athens, 2006. Turkish translation, including a new preface, by Bogazici University Press, Istanbul, 2010. Pirated French translation, Editions Senonevero, Marseilles, 2010. German translation, Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg, 2011. Spanish translation, Pepitas de Calabaza, 2014. Partial and pirated Hungarian translation 2022.