Prof. Dr. Christof Mauch

Christof Mauch is the director of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society as well as the chair of American culture and transatlantic relations at LMU Munich. He is also an affiliated professor in the history faculty of LMU Munich and an honorary professor and honorary fellow at the Center for Ecological History at Renmin University in China, a past president of the European Society for Environmental History, an affiliate of the New Center Institute of Environmental Humanities in Venice, and a former director of the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. (1999–2007).

Mauch has received many awards for his research and professional engagement including the Teaching Innovation Award of LMU (in 2019 and 2023), the Distinguished Career in Public Environmental History Award of the American Society for Environmental History in 2017), and the Planetary of the Institute of Future Competences (2015). His recent books include Slow Hope: Rethinking Ecologies of Crisis and Fear (2019); Paradise Blues: Travels through American Environmental History (2024), and Wie der Mensch die Erde verändert: Die verwandelte Welt (2024).

CV and book publications (PDF, 418 KB)

Resources Featuring Christof Mauch

• “Der verwundete Planet: Interview with Christof Mauch.” By Johannes Becker. bild der wissenschaft, 21 March 2024.
• “New Directions in Environmental Humanities.” Environmental Humanities Research Hub, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 6 February 2024.
• “Planetary Blues: Environmental History, Good and Bad Ghosts of the Future.” Lecture at Histoire environnementale II: symposium, LUMA, Arles, 27 May 2023.
• “An Environmental History of Munich—Talk with Christof Mauch.” Talk at the Tuesday Discussions, RCC, 27 June 2023.
• “What are the Environmental Humanities Good for? Research, Education, and New Perspectives for the 21st Century.” Inaugural EnvHum Lecture, University of Pécs, Hungary. Talk & Q&A.
• “Christof Mauch: Planetary Blues. American Environments and Slow Hope for the Future.” Inaugural Event at The New Institute Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy. Book Presentation.
• WCF 2021: “How Vulnerable Is Our World? Ecological Crises and Slow Hope for the Future”
• Das Anthropozän im Sunshine State Florida
• LMU ScienceCast iTunes video - ''Learning from Nature''
• insightLMU, 2011 (3)
• insightLMU, 2009 (2)

1. "The Power of Nature"
2. "Waste: The Dark Side of Consumption"
3. "Largest conference in Environmental History"
4. "We must respect nature’s power"

Selected Publications

• Paradise Blues: Reisen in die Natur und in die Geschichte der USA, München: dtv 2021.
• Geschichte der USA, Tübingen/ Basel: UTB (Francke) 7th ed. 2020 (with Jürgen Heideking and Anke Ortlepp).
• Slow Hope: Rethinking Ecologies of Crisis and Fear, München. Rachel Carson Center 2019.
• Die 101 wichtigsten Fragen: Amerikanische Geschichte, München: C.H.Beck 2nd edition 2016.
• The Growth of Trees: A Historical Perspective on Sustainability. Translation from German by Katie Ritson, Munich: Oekom 2014.
• Mensch und Umwelt: Nachhaltigkeit aus historischer Perspektive, München: Oekom 2014.
• Notes From the Greenhouse: Making the Case for Environmental History/ Ein Plädoyer für Umweltgeschichte, München: Rachel Carson Center 2013.