Biography
Dr. Michelle Mart is a professor of history at Penn State Berks. Mart teaches a variety of courses on American history, including courses on the environment, food, and the 1960s.
Research Interests
Dr. Mart is a cultural historian focusing on recent US history. Her first book, Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally (2006), and early articles examine the intersections between foreign policy and culture. Her second book, Pesticides, A Love Story: America's Enduring Embrace of Dangerous Chemicals, and later articles investigate how culture shapes environmental understanding and policy. Her latest book, Six Women Who Shaped What Americans Eat: Food Choice in an Age of Abundance, and her articles examine the intersection of food, environment, and culture in recent history.
Publications
Books
Six Women Who Shaped What Americans Eat: Food Choice in an Age of Abundance. Tuscaloosa AL: University of Alabama Press, 2025.
Pesticides, A Love Story: America’s Enduring Embrace of Dangerous Chemicals. Lawrence KS: University Press of Kansas, 2015, 2018.
Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel as an Ally. State University of New York Press, 2006, 2007.
Selected Articles and Chapters
“Why Do We Poison Ourselves?” in Forum: “Of Perpetrators and Victims: Toxicity in Environmental History,” Environmental History, July 2021.
“Nutritional Guidelines and School Lunches: Federal Efforts to Shape the American Diet” special issue Global Environment, eds. Michelle Mart and Daniel Philippon, March 2018.
“The Manual Pesticide Spray Pump,” with Cameron Muir, in Gregg Mitman, Robert Emmett, and Marco Armiero (eds.), Remains of the Anthropocene: A Fragmentary History in 15 Objects. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
“U.S.-Israeli Relations and the Quest for Peace in the Middle East,” in Robert McMahon and Thomas Zeiler (eds.), A Guide to U.S. Foreign Policy: A Diplomatic History. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2012.
Education
Ph.D., History, New York University
A.M., University of Michigan
B.A., Cornell University