SCHAPIRO, JACOB SALWYN

SCHAPIRO, JACOB SALWYN (1879–1973), U.S. historian. Born in New York State, Schapiro taught history at City College, N.Y. from 1909 until his retirement in 1947, and rose to the rank of full professor (1922). Schapiro's principal interest was 19th-century European history, with emphasis on intellectual history. His major works are Social Reform and the Reformation (1909); Condorcet and the Rise of Liberalism (1934); Liberalism and the Challenge of Fascism (1949); and World in Crisis (1950), an analysis of political and social movements in the 20th century. He is also author of Liberalism: Its Meaning and History (1958), Movements of Social Dissent in Modern Europe (1962), and Anticlericalism (1967). His Modern and Contemporary European History (1918) was one of the first textbooks to treat history as the evolution of civilization, embracing social, economic, intellectual, and literary developments, and it had a marked influence on a generation of college students. Many revised editions have appeared. (Oscar Isaiah Janowsky)