Dr. Jonathan Brunstedt

Biography

Jonathan Brunstedt is an Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University, specializing in modern Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly the global legacies of war. His research focuses on how societies remember armed conflict and navigate the tensions between idealized pasts and contemporary social, political, and geopolitical realities. He is the author of 'Soviet Myth of World War II: Patriotic Memory and the Russian Question in the USSR' published by Cambridge University Press, which was selected as one of Foreign Affairs' 'Best Books of the Year.' This book examines how a multiethnic socialist state reconciled its internationalist ideals with the growing emphasis on Russian patriotism, homeland, and military glorification—this tension continues to influence post-Soviet politics of memory. His current project, 'Generation War Own: Soviet Victory Culture and Cold War Interventionism,' delves into the transnational dimensions of Soviet memory culture, demonstrating how triumphalist narratives of victory over fascism in 1945 shaped the Communist Party's global ambitions and interventionist foreign policies. Additionally, Brunstedt's work interrogates the clash between victory culture and the harsh realities of defeat and humiliation in wars, particularly in Afghanistan. His ongoing research has received support from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Philosophical Society, and he is currently an Arts & Humanities Fellow at Texas A&M.

Research Interests

Experience