Neil Maher

Professor, Federated History
About Me
Neil Maher received his Ph.D. in history from New York University in 2001 and is currently a professor of history in the Federated History Department, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on U.S. environmental and political history, urban environmental history, and environmental justice. He is the author, most recently, of Apollo in the Age of Aquarius (Harvard University Press, 2017), which received the Eugene M. Emme best book award from the American Astronautical Society and was selected as a Bloomberg View Must-Read, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and a Smithsonian Best Book on the Apollo program. His first book, Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (Oxford University Press, 2007), won the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award for the best monograph in conservation history.

Maher has been interviewed for more than a dozen radio programs, served as historical consultant on several documentaries for the History Channel, PBS, and the American Experience series, and has written for popular audiences in the New York Times and The Washington Post. He is currently co-writing a textbook on the use of visual images in historical research, writing, and teaching.
Education
Ph.D.; New York University; Us History; 2001
M.A.; New York University; US History; 1997
B.A.; Dartmouth College; History; 1986
Website
http://www.neilmaher.com
2026 Fall Courses
HIST 600 - GRADUATE RESEARCH SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTS OF INEQUALITY IN URBAN AMERICA
HIST 401 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
HIST 701C - MASTER'S THESIS
HIST 702 - MASTER'S ESSAY
HIST 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 377 - CITIES IN HISTORY - HONORS
HIST 402 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 727 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HSS 404 - HISTORY SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN POSTWAR AMERICA
Teaching Interests
Neil Maher currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on 20th Century U.S. environmental and political history, urban history, and the history of environmental inequality and justice.

He is also currently serving as primary advisor for nearly a half dozen M.A.theses, and as primary advisor or committee member for several Ph.D. dissertations.
Past Courses
HIST 334: ENVIRONMNTL HIST NO AMER
HIST 334: ENVIRONMNTL HIST NO AMER HON
HIST 338: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN AMERICA
HIST 338: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN AMERICA - HONORS
HIST 338: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE HISTORY
HIST 341: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
HIST 377: CITIES IN HISTORY
HIST 489: SEMINAR - READINGS
HIST 490: RESEARCH SEMINAR: ENVIRONMENTAL INEQUALITY AND JUSTICE IN POST-WORLD WAR II AMERICA
HIST 490: SEMINAR - RESEARCH
Research Interests
20th Century US environmental and political history, urban history, and the history of environmental justice.
Other
"Community Conversation on the Passaic River (Paterson, N.J. location)"
Even organized through Rutgers Newark, Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the American Experience, January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2023.
"Community Conversation on the Passaic River (Ringwood, N.J. location)"
Even organized through Rutgers Newark, Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the American Experience, January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2023.
"Community Conversation on the Passaic River (Newark, NJ Location)"
Even organized through Rutgers Newark, Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the American Experience, December, 2022.
"NASA and the Environment Symposium"
conference sponsored by Georgetown, NJIT, and NASA, September, 2022.
Website Launched
"Environmental Justice History in America"
January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2022.
Opeds
""Forging an Environmentally Just Civilian Conservation Corps""
The Living New Deal , November, 2021.
Book Review
"Review of NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement"
ISIS (Journal of the History of Science Society), August, 2021.
Broadcast Media
"“The Apollo Program Had a Surprising Close Relationship With 1960s Counterculture,” "
History Unplugged, July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2021.
"“A Conversation about the Civilian Conservation Corps,” "
Resources for the Future, April (2nd Quarter/Spring), 2021.
"“The Once and Future Civilian Conservation Corps,” "
Feet to the Fire, March, 2021.
"“Rich People Are Going to Colonize Mars Without You,” "
VICE TV New Tonight, December, 2020.
"“Escape From the Nuclear Family: COVID-19 Should Provoke a Rethink of How We Live,” "
The Intercept_, August, 2020.
Magazine/Trade Publication
""Biden Needs to Go Big to Rebuild America""
Common Dreams , December, 2020.
""Biden Needs to Go Big to Rebuild America""
Yes! (magazine of solutions journalism", December, 2020.
Newspaper
""The Keys to Ensuring That a Green New Deal Succeeds""
Washington Post, August, 2019.
""Not Everyone Wanted a Man on the Moon""
The New York Times, July (3rd Quarter/Summer), 2019.
"How Many Times Does a River Have to Burn Before it Matters?"
The New York Times, June, 2019.
Journal Article
Neil M. Maher. 2018. ""Grounding the Space Race"." Modern American History, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 141-146.
Book
Neil M. Maher. "Apollo in the Age of Aquarius." Harvard University Press, 2017. ISBN 9780674971998.
Neil M. Maher. "Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement." Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780195392418.