• Tyler Carrington

    Tyler Carrington

    Associate Professor of German Studies and History


Biographical Sketch

Tyler Carrington is a cultural historian of modern Germany and teaches a wide variety of courses in the German Studies curriculum, ranging from intro and advanced German language, culture, and literature courses to seminars in German history, gender and sexuality (especially masculinity), and urban studies.

His book, Love at Last Sight: Dating, Intimacy, and Risk in Turn-of-the-Century Berlin (Oxford University Press, January 2019) examines the risks and rewards of modern dating in the modern metropolis. It is structured around the murder investigation and trial of a young woman, Frieda Kliem, who was killed in the Falkenhagen forest when rendezvousing with a man she met via a newspaper personal ad.

A native of Iowa City, he has degrees in German (BA, MA) and history (MA, PhD). When he is not teaching, he enjoys time with his family, especially at their a-frame cabin in the Wisconsin woods; playing drums with James Tutson; recording and composing music on vintage keyboards, organs, and synthesizers in his basement studio; and keeping his daily running streak alive.

Link to Curriculum Vitae

https://cornellcollege.academia.edu/TylerCarrington/CurriculumVitae

Academic History

  • Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014
  • M.A., History, Loyola University Chicago, 2008
  • M.A., German, Middlebury College, 2007
  • B.A., German, Wheaton College, 2006

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

Articles

  • “The Demystification of Love: Sentiment, Practicality, and the Body in turn-of-the-century Berlin,” Body Politics. Zeitschrift für Körpergeschichte 8:5 (2017): 113-132. PDF
  • “Conflicted Fatherhood: Masculinity and the Modern World in the Life and Work of Thomas Mann.” Snodi. Pubblici e privati nella storia contemporanea 7 (Spring 2011): 16-37. PDF
  • “Instilling the ‘Manly’ Faith: Protestant Masculinity and the German Jünglingsvereine at the fin de siècle.” Journal of Men, Masculinities, and Spiritualities 3:2 (June 2009): 142-154. PDF

Book Reviews

  • Review of Poling, Kristen. Germany's Urban Frontiers: Nature and History on the Edge of the Nineteenth-Century City. German History 40:3 (2022). LINK
  • Review of Lüdtke, Helga. Der Bubikopf. Männlicher Blick, weiblicher Eigen-Sinn. German Studies Review 45:1 (2022). LINK
  • Review of Samper Vendrell, Javier. The Seduction of Youth: Print Culture and Homosexual Rights in the Weimar Republic. Central European History 54:3 (2021). LINK
  • Review of Cohen, Alix and Robert Stern (eds.), Thinking about the Emotions. A Philosophical History. H-Ideas, H-Net Reviews, January 2018. PDF
  • Review of Whyte, Iain Boyd and David Frisby (eds.), Metropolis Berlin: 1880-1940. Studies in Twentieth & Twenty-First Century Literature 41:2 (2017). PDF
  • Review of Adriaansen, Robbert-Jan, The Rhythm of Eternity: The German Youth Movement and the Experience of the Past, 1900-1933. German History 34:3 (September 2016): 489-491. LINK
  • Review of Reddy, William M., The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia & Japan, 900-1200 CE. H-Emotions, H-Net Reviews. June, 2016. PDF
  • Review of Smith, Jill Suzanne, Berlin Coquette: Prostitution and the New German Woman, 1890-1933. H-Urban, H-Net Reviews. November, 2014. PDF

Courses Taught

Cornell College (2015-)

  • German 101: Beginning German I
  • German 102: Beginning German II
  • German 103: Beginning German III
  • History 104: Modern Europe and its Critics
  • INT 111: First Year Seminar
  • German 109: Sports and Athletic Culture in Germany, Past and Present
  • German 115: Magic, Myths, and Legends (in English)
  • German 120: The Holocaust (in English)
  • German 125: Fairy Tales (in English)
  • German 205: Intermediate German
  • German 270: Investigating German Pasts and Presents in Vienna, Munich, and Berlin
  • German 301: Personal Narratives of German-Americans in Iowa
  • German 302: In the Media
  • German 303: Business German
  • German 316: Berlin: Birth, Life, and Re-Birth of a World City
  • German 353: The Fall of the Berlin Wall (in English)
  • German 354: Nazi Germany (in English)
  • History 324: Modern Germany
  • German 351: Modern Men: Redefining Masculinity in the 1920s (in English)
  • German 386: The First Masters of Sex: Angst, Medicine, and the Birth of Sexology in turn-of-the-century Berlin and Vienna (in English)

Kalamazoo College (2014-2015)

  • German 201: Outsiders in Germany
  • History 255: Twentieth-Century Europe
  • History 259: Men and Masculinities in Nineteenth-Century Europe

Wheaton College (2014)

  • German 103: Accelerated Elementary German
  • German 201: Intermediate German

Grants

Individual Grants:

  • Fulbright Research Grant to Berlin, Germany, 2011
  • DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Grant (Declined), 2011
  • Rotary International Scholarship to Berlin, Germany, Iowa City Noon Rotary Club, 2011
  • Fellowship to Speyer, Cologne, and Weimar, Germany, German Historical Institute “Summer Archival Seminar for Young Scholars”, 2010

Institutional/Collaborative Grants:

  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($1,960), grant author (2022)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($1,965), grant author (2021)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($1,960), grant author (2020)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($3,060), grant author (2019)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($2,100), grant author (2018)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($4,400), grant author (2017)
  • “Germany Meets the U.S.” Campus Weeks for Cornell College, German Embassy ($2,200), grant author (2016)
  • “Translation of Global Literacies Across the Curriculum,” Faculty Career Enhancement Grant (FaCE), Andrew W. Mellon Foundation ($18,000), grant co-author (2016)

Recent Conferences Attended

  • "Love, Mobility, and Fate in turn-of-the-century Berlin," Social Science History Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, November 2016.
  • “The Demystification of Love: Sentiment, Practicality, and the Body in turn-of-the-century Berlin,” Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., October 2015.
  • “Transatlantic Gawking: Berliners’ Fascination with Gender Norms in America Around 1900,” Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Kansas City, MO, September 2014.
  • “Analog Love, Digital Love: Navigating Love and Intimacy in the Modern Age,” Women’s and Gender History Graduate Symposium, University of Illinois, March 2014.

Talks/Lectures

  • "Love, Murder, and Algorithms: Exploring the risks and conundrums of dating, past and present," German-American Heritage Center, Davenport, Iowa, February 2023.
  • "From the Berlin Archives: Forgotten murder and the roots of modern dating," Iowa City Noon Rotary Club, Iowa City, Iowa, January 2020.
  • “Love and Algorithms: Modern Conundrums of Dating, Past and Present,” Cornell College, October 2019.
  • "Contours and Conflicts of the German Midwest," Alliant Energy's Multicultural Network Lunch, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 2018.
  • "Examining the centrality of sports in America: Historical and comparative perspectives from Germany," Smithsonian "Hometown Heroes" Exhibit, Mount Vernon, Iowa, April 2018.
  • “From Prague to Berlin: How the Czechs Helped Bring Down the Berlin Wall from the Inside,” National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 2017. On YouTube at: https://youtu.be/CDNJeIK9GP4.  
  • “Celestial, Local, and German: The Amana Meteor as Historical Nexus,” Amana Heritage Society, Amana, Iowa, April 2017. On YouTube at: https://youtu.be/XEUJGqH76fE.  
  • “From Benton County to Berlin and Back,” Mt. Vernon / Lisbon Rotary Club, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, April 2017.  
  • “Urban Sexualities in Berlin at the turn of the century,” Cornell College, April 2017.  
  • “Looking for Love in the Big City: Intimacy, Marriage, and Risk in turn-of-the-century Berlin,” Humanities and Arts Interest Group (HAIG) Lecture, Cornell College, February 2017.  
  • “From Personal Ads to Online Dating: Modern Technologies of Love and their Trajectories,” Cornell College, October 2015.  
  • “Love in the Big City: Intimacy and Modernity in Berlin around 1900,” Iowa City Noon Rotary Club, Iowa City, Iowa, June 2012.  
  • “America’s Next Top Graduate Student: Words of Wisdom for Surviving and Thriving in Graduate School in America,” Fulbright-Kommission Orientation, Berlin, Germany, April 2012.  
  • “Liebe in der Großstadt Berlin um 1900,” Rotary Club Berlin Nord, Berlin, Germany, January 2012.  
  • “Anxiety and Elation in Interwar Europe,” University of Illinois, April 2011.  
  • “Bourgeois Society and Separate Spheres: Masculine Identity,” University of Illinois, September 2009.

Media Coverage

On Love at Last Sight:

Misc.:

Misc. Interests and Achievements

 

  

  

  

  • I also used to be part of a band called Colored By Numbers and a barbershop quartet called The Buzz (pictured)

"The Buzz" in their trademark purple tuxedos

  • I am an avid daily runner and have run the Karwendelmarsch (a 32-mile ultra-marathon with 7,500 ft of elevation gain in the Austrian Alps) three times, in 2016, 2017, and 2018. I also ran the 2007 Vienna Marathon and the 2009 Chicago Marathon.

Running through the Karwendelgebirge on the 2016 Karwendelmarsch between Scharnitz and Pertisau

 

A brief moment of flat running during the 2017 Karwendelmarsch

 

Rainy but majestic conditions in 2018

 

Getting the bbq smoker going at dawn at the cabin in winter 2024