Cogut Institute for the Humanities

Benjamin P. Hein is Assistant Professor of History and teaches courses on European and global history. Born and raised near Frankfurt, Germany, he moved to the United States to earn a B.A. in economics and history (Emory University) and a Ph.D. in history (Stanford University). Interested in histories of migration, cultures of work, and political economy, he is currently at work on his first book, titled “The Migrant’s Spirit: Industrial Revolution in the German Lands.” The study explores the impact of nearly a century of trans-Atlantic migration to the Americas on European work cultures, economic thought and institutions, and commercial law. Research for this project was made possible by generous grants and fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Brown University, the Free University of Berlin, and Stanford University’s Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA).