Brian Cowan

Brian Cowan is Professor of History at McGill University, specializing in early modern Britain and Europe. His research examines sociability, publicity, and cultural exchange from the Restoration through Enlightenment periods, with influential works on coffeehouse culture and public sphere formation.

Key research areas include:

• History of sociability and public spaces
• Print culture and media history
• Political trials and celebrity
• Enlightenment knowledge networks

Current projects include directing the Digital Encyclopedia of European Sociability and editing the Oxford Handbook of the European Enlightenment. Supervises graduate research on Quaker history, Portuguese imperial historiography, and Hartlib Circle intellectual exchange.

Honors include the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize and fellowships at Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study and Yale Center for British Art.