Edward Wallace Muir Jr. (born 1946) is a Professor of History and Italian at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He is also Clarence L. Ver Steeg Professor in the Arts and Sciences and Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence. Known for his use of anthropological methods in historical research, he was a pioneer in the historical study of

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

and feuding. He has been especially influential in using and interpreting microhistorical methods, which were first devised by historians in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. His work has focused on Renaissance Italy, especially the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and its territories. He served as president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

in 2023.

Family

Muir was raised in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, and is the descendant of early Mormon pioneers. His great grandfather, William Smith Muir, served in the Mormon Battalion during the War with Mexico and as a sergeant in the U.S. Army raised the first American flag over

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. William Smith later settled in Bountiful, Utah where he began to farm in 1852. His descendants used the farm in Bountiful as the nucleus for a shipping and packing business for fresh produce from

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Muir's father, Edward Wallace Muir Sr., was the long-serving president of the company, then known as Muir-Roberts, Co., Inc. Muir's brother, Phillip R. Muir, serves as the fifth-generation president of the company, now known as Muir Copper Canyon Farms, which is a food service provider for restaurants and institutions in Utah, Idaho, and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. Muir's maternal grandfather, Samuel Morgan, was the Superintendent of Schools in Davis County, Utah. Muir's mother, Mary Margaret Muir, was an art historian who taught at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

and was an expert on the noted western landscape painter, LeConte Stewart.

Life and career

Muir studied History at the

(BA 1969) and Modern European History at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Stockton State College in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, and

, where he served as department chair. He has lived and conducted research for extended periods in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy. He is the past president of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference (2004) and from 2012 to 2014 was president of the Renaissance Society of America. He has been elected to serve as the President of the American Historical Association in 2023. He has held fellowships from among others the Guggenheim Foundation, the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in Princeton, the National Humanities Center, and the

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research institution at Stanford University designed to advance the frontiers of knowledge about human behavior and society, and contribute to the resoluti ...

in Stanford. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, currently the largest award in the humanities. In 2014 he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Throughout his career his work has rotated around two problems, the means for establishing a

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.disorder working against civil society, especially vendettas. Although rooted in an analysis of the

social structure In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally rel ...

s of cities and networks of patrons and families, most of his work has engaged the interpretation of meaning through public representations, whether in civic rituals,

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

festivity, or

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s. He is an avid skier.

Works

''Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice''
(Princeton University Press, 1981) (Winner of the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize and Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History) * Italian translation: ''Il rituale civico a Venezia nel Rinascimento'' (Rome: Il Veltro Editrice, 1984). * ''The Leopold von Ranke Manuscript Collection of Syracuse University: The Complete Catalogue'' (Syracuse University Press, 1983).
''Sex and Gender in Historical Perspective''
Co-edited with Guido Ruggiero. Selections from ''Quaderni Storici'', no. 1. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. * ''Microhistory and the Lost Peoples of Europe''. Co-edited with Guido Ruggiero. Selections from ''Quaderni Storici'', no. 2. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. * ''Mad Blood Stirring: Vendetta and Factions in Friuli during the Renaissance''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, 390pp. (Winner of the Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History) * Reader's edition
''Mad Blood Stirring: Vendetta in Renaissance Italy''
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. * Italian translation: ''Il sangue s’infuria e ribolle: La vendetta nell’Italia del Rinascimento''. Verona: Cierre edizioni, 2010. * ''History from Crime''. Co-edited with Guido Ruggiero. Selections from ''Quaderni Storici'', no. 3. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, 236pp.
''Ritual in Early Modern Europe''
(Cambridge University Press, 1997, 2nd edition, 2005). * Italian translation: ''Riti e rituali nell’Europa moderna''. Milan, La Nuova Italia, 2000. * Spanish translation: ''Fiesta y rito en la Europa moderna''. Madrid, Editorial Complutense, 2001. * Co-author with Brian Levack, Michael Maas, and Meredith Veldman, ''The West: Encounters and Transformations''. New York: Addison Wesley Longman (new Prentice Hall), 2004. Concise edition, 2006. 2nd full edition, 2007. 3rd full edition, 2010.
''The Culture Wars of the Late Renaissance: Skeptics, Libertines, and Opera''
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. * Italian translation: ''Guerre culturali: Libertinismo e religione alla fine del Rinascimento''. Bari: Laterza, 2008.

References

External links

Muir's CV
at Northwestern's History Department * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Edward Wallace 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Northwestern University faculty Rutgers University alumni University of Utah alumni 1946 births Living people Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars American male non-fiction writers Microhistorians Historians of Italy