John Sbardellati| Department of History
John Sbardellati
Associate Professor of 20th-century US History
John Sbardellati received his BA from the University of California, Riverside, and his MA and PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests include twentieth century U.S. political, cultural, and diplomatic history. His book, was published by Cornell University Press in 2012. It analyzes the FBI鈥檚 probe of the motion picture industry and its efforts to rein in the production of what it considered politically-suspect movies. His current research continues to focus on American political culture in the early Cold War, with a new emphasis on connections between race and national security politics.
Teaching
Dr. Sbardellati teaches courses in 20th century U.S. political, cultural, and diplomatic history. In addition to the U.S. survey, his course offerings include American History Through Film, America & the World: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1898, and a variety of upper level undergraduate and graduate seminars in modern U.S. history.
Selected 鈥婸ublications
Book
- (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012).
Articles & Chapters
- "How the FBI and CIA Confronted the Cinematic Color Line in Cold War Hollywood," Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (2026): 1-22.
- "Reagan鈥檚 Early Years: From Dixon to Hollywood" in A Companion to Ronald Reagan (Blackwell Companions to American History), edited by Andrew Johns (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).
- 鈥淭he 鈥楳altz Affair鈥� Revisited: How the American Communist Party Relinquished its Cultural Influence at the Dawn of the Cold War,鈥� Cold War History Vol. 9, No. 4 (2009): pages 489-500.
- 鈥淏rassbound G-Men and Celluloid Reds: The FBI鈥檚 Search for Communist Propaganda in Wartime Hollywood,鈥�Film History Vol. 20, No. 4 (2008): pages 412-436.
- 鈥淭he Emergence of McCarthyism,鈥� in History in Dispute, Volume 19: The Red Scare after 1945, edited by Robbie Lieberman (St. James Press, 2004).
- 鈥淏ooting a Tramp: Charlie Chaplin, the FBI, and the Construction of the Subversive Image in Red Scare America鈥� (with Tony Shaw) Pacific Historical Review Vol. 72, No. 4 (2003): pages 495-530.