John Majewski

John Majewski is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). His research focuses on 19th-century U.S. history, particularly slavery, political economy, and the Civil War. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA (1994) and has authored influential works like *A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia before the Civil War* (2000) and *Modernizing a Slave Economy: The Economic Vision of the Confederate Nation* (2009). His current projects include reconstructing the life of enslaved Robert Glenn and examining the role of creativity in the Civil War’s economic roots. Majewski teaches courses on U.S. antislavery movements, primary-source analysis, and the Civil War era.

His scholarly contributions span economic history, slavery studies, and public history. Notable works analyze regional economic divergence, the political economy of slavery, and the impact of infrastructure projects. Majewski’s research bridges microhistorical narratives with macroeconomic trends, emphasizing how economic systems shaped U.S. sectional conflicts. He has also explored the educational potential of digital media, such as analyzing historical video games like *Civilization*.

Majewski’s academic service includes advising graduate students and serving on departmental committees. His publications frequently engage with historiographical debates, offering new frameworks for understanding the interplay between capitalism, slavery, and state formation in antebellum America.