Julia Irwin
T. Harry Williams Professor of History
225-A Himes Hall
Courses Taught
World History since 1500 (introductory survey)
Pandemics in World History (Honors seminar)
Diplomatic History of the United States, 1914 to the Present (upper-level survey)
The Global Cold War (upper-level survey)
Readings in 20th Century U.S. History (graduate seminar)
The U.S. and the 20th Century World (graduate seminar)
Current Research Interests
My research focuses on the place of humanitarian assistance in 20th century U.S. foreign relations and international history. My first major research project focused on the history of U.S. foreign relief efforts in the early 20th century, particularly during the First World War and its aftermath. In my second major research project, I explored the history and politics of U.S. foreign disaster assistance across the 20th century, with a focus on humanitarian emergencies caused by tropical storms, earthquakes, floods, and other natural hazards. Most recently, I completed a short book on the international history of humanitarianism, examining this concept in global perspective from the 18th century to the present.
I am currently working on a new book project, The Seventh Pandemic: Cholera, Humanitarianism, and Development in a Globalizing World, an international history of cholera and global health from the early 1960s through the early 1990s. I also serve as a founding co-editor of the book series InterConnections: The Global 20th Century and a founding co-editor of the Journal of Disaster Studies.
Interested in Directing Theses On
US foreign relations / US & the world
International humanitarianism, human rights, and development
Disasters
Histories of medicine and health
War & society
Education
PhD, Yale University, 2009
MPhil, Yale University, 2007
MA, Yale University, 2006
BA, Oberlin College, 2004
Awards and Honors
Tonous and Warda Johns Family Book Award (for Catastrophic Diplomacy), given by the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (2025)
Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize, given by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (2020)
Roger D. Bridges Distinguished Service Award, given by the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2018)
Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lecturer (2017–2026)
Betty M. Unterberger Dissertation Prize, given by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (2011)
Best Article Prize, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2010)
Books
Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2026)
Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century (University of North Carolina Press, 2024)
Making the World Safe: The American Red Cross and a Nation’s Humanitarian Awakening (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Notable Articles
“Bernath Lecture: Our Climatic Moment: Hazarding a History of the United States and the World,” Diplomatic History 45:3 (2021): 421–444.
“Disastrous Grand Strategy: U.S. Humanitarian Assistance and Global Natural Catastrophe,” in Rethinking American Grand Strategy, eds. Elizabeth Borgwardt, Christopher McKnight Nichols, and Andrew Preston (Oxford University Press, 2021): 366–383.
“The ‘Development’ of Humanitarian Relief: U.S. Disaster Assistance Operations in the Caribbean Basin, 1917–1931,” in The Development Century: A Global History, eds. Stephen Macekura and Erez Manela (Cambridge University Press, 2018): 40–60.
“Raging Rivers and Propaganda Weevils: Transnational Disaster Relief, Cold War Politics, and the 1954 Danube and Elbe Floods,” Diplomatic History 40:5 (2016): 893–921.
“‘Sauvons les Bébés’: Child Health and U.S. Humanitarian Aid in the First World War,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 86:1 (2012): 37–65.
“Nation Building and Rebuilding: The American Red Cross in Italy During the Great War,” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 8:3 (2009): 407–439.