Gary Kates

Emeritus Professor of History
gary.kates@pomona.edu

With Pomona Since: 2001
Gary Kates
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  • Expertise

    Expertise

    Gary Kates retired from Pomona College in July 2024, after 22 years of serving as a dean and teaching. In 2001, President Peter Stanley appointed him dean of the College and professor of history, following a national search. He held his administrative position for eight years until July 2009. During that period, he taught one course per semester, usually ID 1 (The European Enlightenment) in the fall semester and The French Revolution in the spring semester. Following a sabbatical year in 2009-2010, Kates rejoined the History Department, where he taught classes in European history, specializing in the early modern period.

    Before coming to Pomona, Kates taught at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas (1980-2001), where he also chaired the History Department and served as interim dean of Humanities and Arts.

    Kates’ first teaching post was at his alma mater, Pitzer College, where during the 1978-1979 academic year he became the first Pitzer alumnus to serve on the faculty.

    Kates is the author of The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985) and Monsieur d’Eon Is a Woman: A Tale of Political Intrigue and Sexual Masquerade (1995), which relates a historical tale that The New York Times book reviewer Richard Bernstein called “almost too good to be true, a kind of ultimate human-interest story mingling with the larger themes of history.” His most recent book, The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2022), is the subject of a review symposium in History of European Ideas 50 (2024): 317-334.

    Research Interests

    • The European Enlightenment
    • The French Revolution

    Areas of Expertise

    Modern European History

  • Work

    Work

    The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies (Bloomsbury, 2022).

    “Politics and Economies: The Making of Enlightenment Political Economy” in A Cultural History of Ideas in the Age of Enlightenment, ed. Jack Censer (Bloomsbury, 2022)), 85-104.

    Monsieur d'Eon Is a Woman: A Tale of Political Intrigue and Sexual Masquerade (Basic Books, 1995; Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), translated into German, Italian and Portuguese.

    The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies (London: Routledge Press, 1998) hardback and paperback; second edition hardback and paperback, 2006; audio book edition for the Norwegian Library for Talking Books and Braille (Oslo: Norsk lyd- og blindeskriftbibliotek , 2003).

    The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985).

    “D’Eon: Christian, Woman, and Autobiographer,” in Simon Burrows, Jonathan Conlin, Russell Goulbourne, and Valerie Mainz, eds., The Chevalier D’Eon and His Worlds: Gender, Espionage, and Politics in the Eighteenth Century (Continuum, 2010), 233-240.

    “The Transgendered World of the Chevalier/Chevalière d'Eon,” Journal of Modern History 67 (September 1995): 558-594

    “From Liberalism to Radicalism: Tom Paine's Rights of Man,” Journal of the History of Ideas 50 (Oct.-Dec. 1989): 569-588; reprinted in Frank Shuffelton, ed., The American Enlightenment (University of Rochester Press, 1993), 318-336; reprinted in Bruce Kuklick, ed., Thomas Paine (Ashgate, 2006), 99-118.

    “Jews Into Frenchmen: Nationality and Representation in Revolutionary France” Social Research 56 (Spring 1989): 213-232; reprinted in Ferenc Féher, ed., The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity (University of California Press, 1990 [paperback ed., 1992]), 103-116; reprinted in The French Revolution: Conflicting Interpretations, 5th edition, eds. Frank A. Kafker, et. al. (Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company, 2002), 417-432.

  • Education

    Education

    Ph.D.
    University of Chicago

    Master of Arts
    University of Chicago

    Bachelor of Arts
    Pitzer College

    Professional Experience

    2001-2009, Dean of the College

    Pomona College

    Recent Courses Taught

    • Early Modern Europe
    • Enlightenment and Capitalism
    • The French Revolution
    • Critical Inquiry Seminar
  • Awards & Honors

    Awards & Honors

    American Historical Association, Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentor Award, 1999

Mailing Address

333 N. College Way
Claremont, CA 91711

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