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Roger Lane

ロジャー・レーン

Roger Lane

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-01-17 (New England, United States)
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States

Career

Occupations
Historian, Professor
Active Years
1963-1999
Affiliations
Haverford College
Influenced By
Oscar Handlin, Richard Hofstadter

Education

Yale University
Department of History
Degree: BA (summa cum laude)
Period: 1951-1955
Year of Graduation: 1955
Country: United States
Graduated summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
Columbia University
History
Period: 1955-1956
Country: United States
Attended a graduate history seminar (1955-56)
Harvard University
History
Degree: PhD
Period: 1956-1963
Year of Graduation: 1963
Country: United States
Studied social history under Oscar Handlin

Awards

Bancroft Prize
1987
Work: Roots of Violence in Black Philadelphia
Organization: Trustees of Columbia University
Result: 受賞
Lindback Award
Organization: Haverford College (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Urban History Association Award
1992
Organization: Urban History Association
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Policing the City: Boston 1822–1885

1967 Urban history / History of policing

A pioneering study of the origins and development of modern policing in 19th-century Boston, examining the relationship between urbanization and law enforcement.

UrbanizationPolicing19th-century America

Violent Death in the City: Suicide, Accident, and Murder in 19th Century Philadelphia

1979 Social history / Crime history

Argues that the disciplining demands of schools and industrial workplaces reduced outward manifestations of violence such as murder while increasing inward forms like suicide.

Transformation of violenceUrban historySocial discipline

Roots of Violence in Black Philadelphia, 1860–1900

1986 Race history / Urban social history

Analyzes how exclusion from industrial and white-collar employment pushed many African Americans into dangerous criminal entrepreneurship, illuminating race and economic relations in the city.

Race relationsEconomic exclusionUrban violence

William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America

1991 Urban history / Race history

Discusses the past and future of Black Philadelphia, tracing how a post–Civil War golden age declined in what had been a well-educated African American community.

Black urban historyEducation and social structure

Murder in America: A History

1997 History of crime / Social history

A sweeping history of murder from medieval England to the late 20th century, examining the long-term relationship between social structures and violence.

History of murderLaw and society

Bibliography

  • Policing the City: Boston 1822–1885
  • Violent Death in the City: Suicide, Accident, and Murder in 19th Century Philadelphia
  • Roots of Violence in Black Philadelphia, 1860–1900
  • William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America
  • Murder in America: A History

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Social history approachScholarly analytical prose
Recurring Motifs
Urbanization and violenceEconomic exclusionRelation between institutions and individual behavior

Legacy

A historian who made pioneering contributions to urban and crime history. His work on violence and social structures in 19th-century American cities is widely cited, and he has been highly regarded as an educator.

Academic Societies

  • Urban History Association

Archives

  • Haverford College Archives

In Popular Culture

  • Quoted extensively in Theodore Kaczynski's (the Unabomber) manifesto, giving Lane a small role in his identification and capture

Trivia

  • Won the Bancroft Prize in 1987 for Roots of Violence in Black Philadelphia.
  • Named one of the "Ten Top Profs" in the metropolitan area by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Has three children (Margaret Mary, James Michael, Joanna Lewis Lane).
  • Father was Alfred Baker Lewis.