Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn

• 2024 Spring
  • HST 300 Selected Topics - Cultural History of AI
  • HST 401 Senior Seminar - Cultural History in Images
• 2023 Fall
  • HST 300 Selected Topics - AI & the Virtual Self
• 2023 Spring
  • MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States
  • HST 804 First-Year Graduate Research Seminar
• 2022 Fall
  • MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States
  • HST 801 Historiography
• 2022 Spring
  • MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States
  • HST 496 Distinction Thesis in History
  • HST 803 Theories and Philosophies of History

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn focuses on ideas and their intricacy, inner-workings and importance in the lives of individuals and society, past and present. In addition to modern and contemporary American social, cultural and intellectual history, she has broader temporal, geographical and interdisciplinary interests extending back to antiquity, especially philosophy, comparative literature, cultural and media criticism, languages and classical reception. Her teaching and research integrate specialist and generalist sensibilities and she is in close conversation with scholars in many fields.

Lasch-Quinn’s new book, "Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living"  (University of Notre Dame Press, October 2020), explores ideas in ancient Greco-Roman philosophy and modern American culture about how to live. Her earlier books include "Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement,1890-1945" (University of North Carolina; winner of the Berkshire prize), and "Race Experts: How Sensitivity Training, Interracial Etiquette, and New Age Therapy Hijacked the Civil Rights Revolution" (W. W. Norton; reviewed in the New York Times, London Times, among others). 

She has edited books on the contemporary historical profession (Routledge) as well as women and the common life (W. W. Norton). Her writing appears widely in both scholarly and prominent public venues such as "The New Republic and The Hedgehog Review" and includes numerous essays, articles, op-eds and book reviews on a range of subjects from race and community to civil society, therapeutic culture, democratic citizenship, self, emotion, moral imagination, children, popular culture, love and the life of the mind.

A Fulbright fellow, she has received many research grants and fellowships, including from Yale University’s Whitney Humanities Center, the PEW and Templeton foundations, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, and taught graduate seminars at Yale and the University of Rome, Italy. She has taught and advised many Ph.D. students at Syracuse, where she served as director of Graduate Studies in history.

Throughout the U.S. and in London, Rome and Naples, she has delivered many presentations and invited lectures, including commencement and conference keynote addresses. Devoted to her students and colleagues at Syracuse University and in the profession, she has received awards for her undergraduate and graduate teaching and advising as well as her research and service.

Professor of history and senior research associate in the Campbell Public Affairs institute, Lasch-Quinn is an acknowledged contributor to scholarly and public discourse nationally and internationally. She has been sought out as consultant in a variety of settings, from tv and radio talk show, documentary, college president, and museum, to Office of the Prime Minister (U.K.).

"Non-Residential Visiting Faculty Fellowship", Sponsored by University of Virginia.

"Contemporary American Notions of Selfhood", Sponsored by John Templeton Foundation.

• Books
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living. University of Notre Dame Press, 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living. University of Notre Dame Press, 2020.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Race Experts: How Racial Etiquette, Sensitivity Training, and New Age Therapy Hijacked the Civil Rights Revolution. Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Race Experts: How Racial Etiquette, Sensitivity Training, and New Age Therapy Hijacked the Civil Rights Revolution. W. W. Norton, 2001.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Black Neighbors: Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945. University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
• Journal Articles
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Recalling the Sacraments: The Case of Penance." Journal of Christian Legal Thought, 2022.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Beyond the Modern Fitness Cult." Law and Liberty, 2022.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Marcus Aurelius’ Workout Book." Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics, 2022.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Can Bridgerton Teach Us How to Live?." Zocalo Public Square, 2021.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "A Peek in the Window: Reminiscences About My Father." Local Culture: A Journal of the Front Porch Republic , 2020.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The New Old Ways of Self-Help." The Hedgehog Review, 2017.
  • Basu, S., Champion, C. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "300: The Use and Abuse of Greek History." SPIKED, 2007.
• Book Chapters
  • Clemente, M., Cocchiara, B., Hendel, W. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Plato at the Opera: The Sounds of Philosophia." In misReading Plato: Continental and Psychoanalytic Glimpses Beyond the Mask. Routledge, 2022.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Stewart, M. D., "Beyond Critique: Philip Rieff’s Positive Vision." In The Anthem Companion to Philip Rieff. Imber, J. (ed.) Anthem Press, 2018.
  • Harward, D. W., Lasch-Quinn, E. D. and Checkoway, B., "Individual Liberty and Civic Practices." In Civic Values and Civic Practices. , 2013.
  • Halliwell, M., Morley, C. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Contemporary Social Thought." In American Thought and Culture in the Twenty-first Century . Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
  • McClay, W. M., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "A Stranger's Dream: The Contemporary Socialization Crisis and the Rise of the Virtual Self." In Figures in the Carpet: Finding the Human Person in the American Past. Eerdmans, 2007.
  • Rieff, P., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Introduction." In Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud. ISI Books, 2007.
  • Cummings, D., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The Crisis of Secularism." In Debating Humanism. Imprint Academic, 2006.
• Article Response
  • Shannon, C., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "From Histories to Traditions: A New Paradigm of Pluralism in the Study of the Past." Historically Speaking, 2011.
• Blog Posts
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Ars Vitae." The Page 99 Test, 2020.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Society for United States Intellectual History Blog. , 2013.
• Book Reviews
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The Need to Be Whole." In The Need to Be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice. Current, 2022.
  • Robertson, N. M., "Christian Sisterhood, Race Relations, and the YWCA, 1906–46." Journal of American History, 2009.
  • McCloskey, D., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce." Enterprise and Society, 2009.
  • Stearns, P., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Battleground of Desire." In Journal of Social History. , 2001.
  • Weisenfeld, J., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "African American Women and Christian Activism: New York’s Black YWCA, 1905-1945." Journal of American History, 2000.
  • Horowitz, D., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique." Wilson Quarterly, 1999.
  • Williams, J., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary." Wilson Quarterly, 1999.
• Edited Books
  • Rieff, P., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud. Wilmington: ISI Books, Background series, 2006.
  • Fox-Genovese, E., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Reconstructing History: The Emergence of a New Historical Society, with Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. Routledge, 1999.
  • Lasch, C., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism. W. W. Norton, 1997.
• Editorials
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Thinking of Shopping as Work: How Our Consumer Culture is Robbing Us of Time for the Best Things in Life." New York Newsday, 2005.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Let’s Fall in Love with Being in Love." New York Newsday , 2002.
• Encyclopedia Entries
  • Dubofsky, M., McCartin, J. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Hull House." In Oxford Encyclopedia of American Economic, Business, and Labor History. Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Arnett, J. J., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., ""Engaged Resistance" and "Obscenity Culture"." In Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media. Sage Reference, 2007.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Religious Settlements." Journal of Chicago History, 2004.
  • Cayton, M. K., Williams, P. W. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Family." In Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001.
• Essays
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Remembering the University’s Mission." In Current. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Men and Women in Love with God." In Current. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Fifty Souls." In Current. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Nothing Succeeds Like Failure: Weil, Gandhi, Cioran, and Mishima on Humility." In Hedgehog Review. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Tending to a Tradition." In Current. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Democracy from the Ashes: On David Stuttard’s "Phoenix"." In LA Review of Books. , 2023.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The Sights and Sounds of Belfast." Current, 2022.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Ars Vitae: A Response to the Symposium." In Center for Theological Understanding. Sapientia, 2022.
• Essay Review
  • Bowen, W. G., Kurzweil, M. A., Tobin, E. M. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "A Thumb on the Scale: The Case for Greater Equity in College Admissions." In Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2005.
• Excerpts
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Philosophia." Montreal Review, 2021.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Ancient Philosophy’s Return Amidst the Triumph of the Therapeutic." Church Life Journal (Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, Notre Dame), 2021.
• Journal Reviews
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Pastlessness." Hedgehog Review, 2022.
  • Dickerson, D., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Color Bind." In The End of Blackness. The Washington Post, 2004.
  • Schafly, P., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "A Woman’s Place is Home." Washington Times, 2003.
  • Phillips, K., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Markets and Morals." The Washington Times, 2002.
  • Turiel, E., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "No Bad Deeds?." The Washington Times , 2002.
  • Ladd-Taylor, M., Odem, M. and Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Progressives and the Pursuit of Agency." Reviews in American History, 1996.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Children Under the Expert Eye: The Rise of Child Development Science." Reviews in American History, 1994.
• Movie reviews
  • Foggin, C., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Keep Haulin’, Boys." Current , 2021.
  • Schneider, A., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "Fifty Souls." Current , 2021.
• Review Essays
  • Franklin, J. H., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "The Personal History of America’s Great Historian." In Mirror to America in Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. , 2005.
  • Lasch-Quinn, E. D., "An American Idol." Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2004.
• Transcript Commentary
  • Patterson, O., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Salmagundi, 2002.

ASPI Graduate Seminar: History and Technology, Dr. Hamid Ekbia, Director, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, "Cultural and Philosophical Questions–What It Means to Be Human" (November 8, 2023 - December 6, 2023)

Philip Rieff Workshop, Open Societies Foundation, "Continued Relevance of Philip Rieff" (October 3, 2023)

Cura Psychologia conference, Boston College, Lynch School of Education, "Ars Vitae: A Dialogue on Psychological Humanities" (November 10, 2022)

The Great American Novel Series, National Association of Scholars, "The Great American Novel Series: The Call of the Wild" (April 5, 2022)

Fulkerson, G., Stand, G., Prince, I., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Henry Center for Theological Understanding, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, with John Templeton Foundation, "The Self's Symphonia: Listening Notes" (March 24, 2022)

United States Intellectual History Society annual conference, "Seeking Ancient Wisdom in Modern America: A Roundtable on Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn’s Ars Vitae" (October 30, 2021)

Montesquieu Forum, Roosevelt University, "On the Importance of a Philosophy of Life: A Conversation with Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn" (April 8, 2021)

Ingram, R., Lasch-Quinn, E. D., Menard Family George Washington Forum, Ohio University, "Book Forum on Ars Vitae: Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, “The Art of Living”" (March 25, 2021)

Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, "Book Presentation on Ars Vitae" (February 18, 2021)

Campbell Public Affairs Institute Seminar, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, "Ars Vitae" (September 30, 2020)

Institute for the Advanced Study in Culture, University of Virginia, "Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living" (April 26, 2019)

Conservative/Progressive Summit, Grand Valley State University, "Common Ground Initiative" (April 12, 2019)

Teaching Appointments & Fellowships

2020-present
Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia

2016-17 
Non-Residential Visiting Faculty Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation: In Media Res, University of Virginia 

2016-17 
Pellicone Faculty Scholar, Department of History, Syracuse University

2008-present 
Affiliated Faculty Member, Honor’s Program, Syracuse University

2002-present 
Full Professor (with tenure), Department of History, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

2001-present 
Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

2012-14 
Research Fellow, Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs Program, The Historical Society & John Templeton Foundation

Spring 2012 
Fulbright Fellow and Senior Lecturer, Department of American Studies, University of Rome III (Dipartimento di Studi Euro-Americani, Università di Roma Tre), Rome, Italy

1998-99 
Research Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC

1996-2001 
Associate Professor, Department of History, Syracuse University

1993-94 
Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor, Whitney Humanities Center and Program in American Studies, Yale University

1990-95 
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Syracuse University

Notable Mention , Best American Essays (October, 2023)

Senior Fellow appointment, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia (2020)

Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, Graduate School, Syracuse University (2017)

Frank and Helen Pellicone Faculty Scholar Award, Syracuse University (2016 - 2017)