Hannah Farber
Biography
Hannah Farber is Associate Professor of History at Columbia University.
Professor Farber specializes in the political economy of colonial North America, the early American republic, and the Atlantic World.
Professor Hannah Farber specializes in the political economy of colonial North America, the early American republic, and the Atlantic World.
Her first book, Underwriters of the United States (Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture/UNC Press, 2021) explains how the transnational system of marine insurance, by governing the behavior of American merchants, influenced the establishment and early development of the American republic.
Her current book project is The American Lawsuit: Civil Litigation from the Revolution to Tocqueville.
Additional research interests include early American interest rates and the visual and material culture of American commerce.
John Lyman Book Award, US Maritime History, North American Society for Oceanic History, 2021
Hagley Prize for Best Book in Business History, Business History Conference, 2023
“Farber fills her pages with a fantastically colorful community of characters at work in the often-shadowy underworld of finance. She has made people—and not always well-known leaders—come alive. That is rare in business history.”—David J. Hancock, University of Michigan
Education
PhD History, University of California, Berkeley
BA History, Yale University
Doctoral Dissertation
Underwritten States: Marine Insurance and the Making of Bodies Politic in America, 1622–1815.”
Positions Held
Associate Professor of History, Columbia University
Visiting Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow, Boston College
Topics
Political Economy of Colonial North America
The Early American Republic
The Atlantic World