Thomas Zeller, University of Maryland

History of Technology, Environmental History

My work is mostly concerned with the intersections of the history of technology and environmental history. In particular, I have written on the history of roads and landscapes in the United States and Germany during the 20th century. My monograph, Driving Germany: The Landscape of the Autobahn, 1930-1970 was published in 2007 (paperback edition, 2010); ; it is a revised english translation of the book Straße, Bahn, Panorama. Verkehrswege und Landschaftsveränderung in Deutschland 1930 bis 1990. My current research includes a comparative study of 20th century parkways in the United States and Germany; this project is entitled Consuming Landscapes and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and the Program in Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks/Harvard University.

With colleagues from the United States and Europe, I have coedited four volumes in environmental history and the history of technology:

How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich
coedited with Franz-Josef Brüggemeier and Mark Cioc (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005)

Germany's Nature: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental History
coedited with Thomas Lekan (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005)

The World Beyond the Windshield: Roads and Landscapes in the United States and Europe
coedited with Christof Mauch (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008)

Rivers in History: Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America
coedited with Christof Mauch, (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008).

Since the fall of 2002, I have been working at the University of Maryland, where I am based in the Department of History and hold a joint appointment with the A. James Clark School of Engineering. Besides teaching in the Department of History, I offer classes in the Gemstone Program and the College Park Scholars Program in Science, Technology, and Society. After a one-year position as a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., during the academic year 2002/2003, I was a Visiting Research Fellow at the GHI from 2003 to 2006. Since 2006, I have been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Transport History.