{{short description|American historian}}{{Distinguish|Maurice Samuel}}

'''Maurice Samuels''' (born August 9, 1968) is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French at Yale University. He graduated with a BA (''summa cum laude'') in 1990 from Harvard University, where he also earned his MA (1995) and PhD (2000). Before moving to Yale in 2006, Samuels taught at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in the literature and culture of nineteenth-century France and in Jewish Studies, and is the author of books and articles on these and other topics. He is the inaugural director of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism.

==Work== Samuels is the author of ''[https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801489655/the-spectacular-past/ The Spectacular Past: Popular History and the Novel in Nineteenth-Century France]'' (2004), ''[https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=17721 Inventing the Israelite: Jewish Fiction in Nineteenth-Century France]'' (2010), and ''[https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo24550561.html The Right to Difference: French Universalism and the Jews]'' (2016). He co-edited and did translations for ''[https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=20344 Nineteenth-Century Jewish Literature Reader]'' (2013). Samuels' book, ''[https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/maurice-samuels/the-betrayal-of-the-duchess/9781541645455/ The Betrayal of the Duchess: The Scandal That Unmade the Bourbon Monarchy and Made France Modern]'', was published by Basic Books in 2020.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/maurice-samuels/the-betrayal-of-the-duchess/9781541645455/|title=The Betrayal of the Duchess|last=Samuels|first=Maurice|date=2019-08-06|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9781541645455|language=en-US}}</ref> His book, ''Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair'', was published by Yale University Press in 2024.<ref>Rosbottom, Ronald C., [https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/alfred-dreyfus-review-a-nation-on-trial-67fdd2cf "'Alfred Dreyfus' Review: A Nation on Trial"], The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2024.</ref>

In 2011, Samuels became the inaugural director of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism (YPSA), housed at Yale's Whitney Humanities Center. Through a seminar series of invited international scholars, an annual conference, and the awarding of faculty and student research grants, YPSA "promotes the study of the perception of Jews, both positive and negative, in various societies and historical moments, and also encourages comparisons with other forms of discrimination and racism."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ypsa.yale.edu |title=Welcome &#124; Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism |website=Ypsa.yale.edu |access-date=2016-04-01}}</ref>

==Awards== ''The Spectacular Past'' won the [https://macmillan.yale.edu/research-support/macmillan-center-international-book-prizes Gaddis Smith International Book Prize], awarded by Yale University's MacMillan Center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://macmillan.yale.edu/maurice-samuels-awarded-gaddis-smith-international-book-prize-macmillan-center |title=Maurice Samuels Awarded Gaddis Smith International Book Prize by The MacMillan Center &#124; The MacMillan Center |website=Macmillan.yale.edu |date=2007-05-16 |access-date=2016-04-01}}</ref> ''Inventing the Israelite'' and ''The Right to Difference'' both received the [https://www.mla.org/Resources/Career/MLA-Grants-and-Awards/Winners-of-MLA-Prizes/Annual-Prize-and-Award-Winners/Aldo-and-Jeanne-Scaglione-Prize-for-French-and-Francophone-Studies-Winners Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Studies], given by the Modern Language Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mla.org/Resources/Career/MLA-Grants-and-Awards/Winners-of-MLA-Prizes/Annual-Prize-and-Award-Winners/Aldo-and-Jeanne-Scaglione-Prize-for-French-and-Francophone-Studies-Winners|title=Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Studies Winners|website=Mla.org|access-date=2019-11-06}}</ref> In 2015, Samuels was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/maurice-samuels/ |title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation &#124; Maurice Samuels |website=Gf.org |date=2014-06-20 |access-date=2016-04-01}}</ref>

==Teaching== Samuels teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on a variety of topics. Recent courses include "Paris: Capital of the Nineteenth Century"; "Money and the Novel"; "Jewish Identity and French Culture"; "Realism and Naturalism"; "Fin-de-siècle France"; and "Representing the Holocaust." With Alice Kaplan, he teaches a popular undergraduate survey course, ''The Modern French Novel''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://french.yale.edu/people/maurice-samuels Yale Faculty Homepage] *[http://ypsa.yale.edu Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oTfA4iwmFw Maurice Samuels Discussing "Inventing the Israelite"] *[https://cjs.ucsc.edu/2015/04/17/maurice-samuels-french-universalism-and-the-jews-anti-antisemitism-and-the-right-to-difference/ Recording of Samuels' 2015 Helen Diller Family Endowment Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies at UC Santa Cruz, "French Universalism and the Jews: Anti-Antisemitism and the Right to Difference," May 18, 2015] *[http://www.jewishledger.com/2011/11/q-a-with-prof-maurice-samuels-head-of-yales-new-antisemitism-program/ Connecticut Jewish Ledger - Q & A with Prof. Maurice Samuels, head of Yale's new antisemitism program (Nov 16, 2011)]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Maurice}} Category:Yale University faculty Category:Living people Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American male writers Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty Category:1968 births Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Antisemitism studies Category:Judaic scholars Category:Scholars of antisemitism Category:Historians of France