معرفی
Alan Ball is Professor of History in the Department of History at Marquette University's College of Arts and Sciences. His office is located in Sensenbrenner Hall, 303F, Milwaukee, WI. Specializing in Soviet history and Cold War studies, he has maintained a dual scholarly focus through traditional historical research and contemporary judicial analysis via his influential SCOWstats blog.
His research interests span Soviet historical demography, Russian-American cultural relations, Cold War ideological constructs, and modern judicial statistics. Ball's unique SCOWstats project analyzes Wisconsin Supreme Court voting patterns across 104 years, with findings cited by journalists and Supreme Court justices in official opinions. The blog's innovative "Law-Firm Fantasy League" engages legal professionals through competitive analysis of judicial decisions.
Notable publications include:
- Russia's Last Capitalists: The Nepmen, 1921-1929 (UC Press, 1987)
- And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918-1930 (UC Press, 1994)
- Imagining America: Influence and Images in Twentieth-Century Russia (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003)
- Liberty's Tears: Soviet Portraits of the 'American Way of Life' During the Cold War (Oxford UP, 2015)
His recent statistical analyses of court polarization, unanimous decisions, and historical voting patterns demonstrate rigorous quantitative approaches to legal history. Ball's teaching portfolio includes courses on Russian history, the Cold War, and Soviet perspectives on America.
Academic background:
- Ph.D. in History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1982)
