Peter Silver

Peter Silver serves as Associate Professor of History at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, within the School of Arts and Sciences. He joined Rutgers in 2008 after previously serving as an assistant professor at Princeton University. His academic journey includes earning an A.B. from Harvard (1993), followed by an M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (2001) from Yale University.

Specializing in early American history, Professor Silver's research focuses on Native American history, comparative colonial and imperial histories, and religious history. His work examines the complex interactions between European settlers and Native populations during the colonial and revolutionary periods, particularly in the middle Atlantic region. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses covering colonial and revolutionary North American history, Native history, and Atlantic world history.

Professor Silver's scholarship demonstrates significant impact in his field, with his first book receiving major academic recognition. His research reveals how Indian wars transformed European societies in colonial America and contributed to the development of democratic sovereignty concepts during the revolutionary period. His current work examines Spanish and British America during the War of Jenkins's Ear period (1735-1745), focusing on immigration patterns, slave revolts, invasion panics, and religious revivalism.

His notable achievements include:

• Bancroft Prize in American History (2008)
• Mark Lynton History Prize (2008)
• Richard Allen Lester University Preceptorship at Princeton (2004-2007)
• John Addison Porter Prize for best dissertation in humanities
• George Washington Egleston Historical Prize for best dissertation in American history

Professor Silver has received significant fellowship support throughout his career, including the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Fellowship and A. Bartlett Giamatti Fellowship. His research has been supported by multiple institutional grants and fellowships that enabled the completion of his major publications. He maintains an active scholarly profile with ongoing research projects examining the comparative development of Spanish and British American empires.

His current scholarly work centers on "A Rotten Colossus: Spanish and British America in the War of Jenkins's Ear," which examines the transformative period between 1735 and 1745 when British America transitioned from Atlantic settlements to a more cohesive empire. This project draws on multilingual sources to analyze interactions between Africans, Europeans, and Natives across border regions including Georgia-Florida, Belize-New Spain, and Jamaica-Cuba.