1/21/98

CONTACT: Diane Manuel, News Service (650) 725-1945;
e-mail dmanuel@leland.stanford.edu

History professor Sheehan receives Germany high honor

James J. Sheehan, professor of history and the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on Jan. 15.

German Consul General Ruprecht Henatsch presented the award in recognition of Sheehan's lifetime achievement and work on German history at a ceremony at the Humanities Center Annex.

"I was obviously quite delighted by the award and especially delighted to be one of several people at Stanford who have received this award in the past," Sheehan said. "It's very distinguished company and I'm pleased to be there."

Previous Stanford recipients of the Officer's Cross are Russell Berman, professor of German studies, and Norman Naimark, professor of history.

A specialist in modern German history, Sheehan has examined the relationship between social, cultural and political developments in the period between the French Revolution and World War I. He also has traced the transfer and transformation of western European liberalism in central Europe.

More recently, Sheehan has worked on the problem of the nation in Germany history and historiography. His major publications are The Career of Lujo Brentano: A Study of Liberalism and Social Reform in Imperial Germany, German Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century and German History, 1770-1866.

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By Diane Manuel