CV
Jonathan Epstein, Ph.D.
60 Remsen Street
Apartment 4C
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 522-7526
joepstein@jjay.cuny.edu
Specialties:
Modern Military History
Modern European History
Jewish History
World Civilizations
Education:
2006: City University of New York-Graduate School and University Center
Ph.D. Program in Late Modern European History
Ph.D. in History received February 2006
Dissertation: Between France and Germany: The Formation of Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940
Dissertation advisor: Professor David Gordon
Dissertation committee: Kathleen Broome Williams, Dennis Showalter, Robert M. Seltzer, Richard G. Powers
M. Phil. degree in History received in October 2001
1992: Teachers College of Columbia University
M.A. Program in Teaching Social Studies
M.A. received in May 1992
1990: Columbia College of Columbia University
A.B. in History received in May 1990
Academic Honor:
2006: United States Military Academy
West Point Summer Seminar in Military History
Teaching:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, 2006-present
Adjunct Lecturer 2006
Adjunct Assistant Professor 2007, 2009-2015
Substitute Assistant Professor 2007-2009
Adjunct Associate Professor 2016-Present
“History 352: ‘Military History and Justice’”
“History 352: ‘Military History and Justice’”—online
“History 340: Modern Military History”
“History 320: The History of Crime and Punishment in the United States”
“History 320: The History of Crime and Punishment in the United States”— online
“Humanities and Justice Studies 310: Comparative Perspectives on Justice”
300-Level Independent Study on World War II, special reference to the American military
“History 290: The History of Firearms”
“History 205: 1650 to the Present”
“History 204: 500-1650”
“History 232: Contemporary History of Civilization”
“History 231: Origins of the Contemporary World”
“History 127: Microhistories (World War II)”
“History 127: Microhistories (World War II)”—online
“History 127: Microhistories (World War I)”
“History 127: Microhistories (World War I)”—online
“Humanities and Justice Studies 310: Comparative Perspectives on Justice”
Saint Peter’s College, Jersey City, New Jersey, Adjunct Lecturer 2003, 2006, 2007
“History 325.5: The Second World War”
“History 339.50: History of Germany 1815-1945”
“History 122.72: World Perspectives in History”
Queens College of the City University of New York, Adjunct Lecturer 2003, 2004
“History 313: Second World War”
“History 102: European History 1815 to the Present”
Service at John Jay College:
2020-present: Alternate Representative of the Faculty Senate to the College Council
2018-present: At-large Representative of the Adjunct Faculty to the Faculty Senate
2018-present: “delegate” to the Delegate Assembly of the PSC-CUNY
2018: Elected “alternate delegate” to the Delegate Assembly of the PSC-CUNY
2017: Elected “Officer at Large” in the Executive Committee of the John Jay chapter of the PSC-CUNY
2015: Certified to teach writing-intensive courses
2015- 2016: Faculty co-advisor for Hillel
2015: Certified to teach online courses
2011: Developed and led a pedagogy workshop on “Using Humor in the History Classroom” for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching
Publications:
Book:
Belgium’s Dilemma: The Formation of Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940. Leiden: Brill, 2014
Article:
“The Importance of Outreach in an American Context.” Cahiers Inlichtingenstudies 9 (2018): 195-198.
Book Reviews:
April 2024: “Review of Felicity Rash and Christophe Declercq, eds., The Great War in Belgium and the Netherlands: Beyond Flanders Fields.” First World War Studies
October 2014: “Review of Henri Pirenne, Belgium and the First World War.” Journal of Military History 78, no. 4 (October 2014): 1451-1452.
January 2010: “Review of Geirr H. Haarr, The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940.” Journal of Military History 74, no.1 (January 2010): 282-283.
September 2006: “Review of Larry Zuckerman, The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I.” H-Net Reviews
Current Project:
Co-editor and chapter contributor to The Blitzkrieg Reassessed
Papers Presented:
September 2024: Chair to “U.S. Military in World War II and Korea” to the Northern Great Plains History Conference
April 2024: “The Defense of Belgian Airspace 1914-1940” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
September 2023: Chair and discussant to “Militaries in the Era of the First World War” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
September 2022: “Raoul van Overstraeten and the Belgian Army of 1940” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
September 2021: Chair to “American Experiences in World War I” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
May 2021: “The Setting of the Red-Yellow-Black Sun: The Story of the Interwar Belgian Air Force” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2021: “Civil-Military Relations in World War I Belgium” at From Hoplites to GWOT: A Regional SMH Great Plains History Conference
September 2019: Chair and Comments to “Ancient and Medieval Warfare” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
May 2019: “The Importance of Fort Eben-Emael to the Campaign in the West: A Reassessment” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2019: Comments to “Trial and Development in World War II” at the Missouri Valley History Conference
February 2018: “Dunkirk: The Prequel,” lecture of opportunity, to the United States Naval War College
October 2017: Comments to “Asia” at the Northern Great Plains History Conference
September 2016: “The 1928 Mixed Commission and the Beginning of Belgian Rearmament” to the Northern Great Plains History Conference
March 2013: “Poilu and Jew: Jewish Soldiers in the French Army from Dreyfus to Versailles” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
November 2008: “Belgian Defense Policy, 1920-1940” to “Small Powers in the Age of Total War 1900-1940” at the Netherlands Defense Academy
April 2008: “’They Keep a Good Watch’: Couverture, Défense á la Frontière, and Belgian Plans for Defense against Germany” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2008: “May 1940: A Belgian Perspective” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
January 2008: “Rarely Told Tales of May-June 1940” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
May 2006: “1936: Belgium and the Increasing German Threat” to the Society for Military History Annual Conference
March 2005: “’Better than that, Madame, we have been motorized!’: The Motorization of the Belgian Corps de Cavalerie 1934-1940” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
April 2004: “’. . . . And that goes for all you damned Flemings, too!’: The Language Issue in the Belgian Army, 1914-1940” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
March 2004: “’Equality of Rights’ or ‘Linguistic Revenge’: The Flemish Question, the 1938 Belgian Army Language Law, and 1940” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
May 2003: “Between France and Germany: The Formation of Belgian Defense Policy, 1932-1940” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
March 2003: “Covering all the Bases: Belgian Defenses against France, 1936-1940” to the Missouri Valley History Conference
December 2001:“British and German Propaganda aimed at Americans during World War I” to the New York Military Affairs Symposium
November 1999:“Massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee” to History, the Military and Society VI, The Annual Graduate Student Conference on Military History, The Ohio State University