Daniel Juette

University of Heidelberg, Germany, PhD 2010

Cultural History, Urban History, History of Knowledge, Jewish History, German History, History of Material Culture and Everyday Life

Daniel Jütte is a historian of early modern and modern Europe. His research interests lie in cultural history, urban history and material culture, history of knowledge and science, and Jewish history. He is currently working on a history of transparency from antiquity to modern times.

Jütte is the author of two monographs. His award-winning The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400–1800 (Yale University Press, 2015; first German ed. 2011) offers a general history of secrecy in the early modern period, with particular attention to the role of secrecy and secret sciences in Jewish-Christian relations. His second book, The Strait Gate: Thresholds and Power in Western History (Yale University Press, 2015), explores how doors, gates, and related technologies such as the key and the lock have shaped notions about security, privacy, and shelter.

Before joining NYU, Jütte taught as lecturer in the History Department at Harvard University as well as at the University of Heidelberg, from which he earned his Ph.D. in 2010. He has also held a number of fellowships: Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (2011–2015); Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin (2015–16); and Eurias Fellow at the University of Cambridge (2016–2017). In addition, his work has been supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung), and the Daimler Benz Foundation.

Jütte has been recognized for excellence in teaching, but he also enjoys engaging non-academic audiences and readerships, e.g., as a contributor to media networks (such as the BBC, CNN, and Deutschlandradio) and major daily newspapers, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Die Welt.

2016–2017 Eurias Fellow, University of Cambridge
2015–2016 Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin
2011–2015 Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows
2013 Honorary Starr Fellow, Harvard University
2013 Dyos Prize (Urban History)
2012 Ruprecht Karls Prize (University of Heidelberg)
2011 Bruno Heck Science Prize, Konrad Adenauer Foundation

The Strait Gate: Thresholds and Power in Western History

Yale University Press, 2015
The Age of Secrecy: Jews, Christians, and the Economy of Secrets, 1400–1800

Yale University Press, 2015
Von der Toskana in den Orient: Ein Renaissance-Kaufmann auf Reisen

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012
Der jüdische Tenor Heinrich Sontheim (1820–1912)

Stadtarchiv, Göppingen, 2006

Survivors of Witch Trials and the Quest for Justice in Early Modern Germany

Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 50, no. 2

2020, pp. 349–375
Toward a History of the Corner

RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 73–74

2020, pp. 340–356
Sleeping in Church: Preaching, Boredom, and the Struggle for Attention in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

American Historical Review 125, no. 4

2020, pp. 1147–1174
Comfort, Class and Climate Change: The Rise of Glass in Late Medieval and Early Modern Domestic Architecture

Cultural & Social History 15, no. 5

2018, pp. 621–641
Walls, Borders, and Boundaries in World History (AHR Conversation with S. Akbari, T. Herzog, C. Nightingale, W. Rankin, and K. Weitzberg)

American Historical Review 122, no. 5

2017, pp. 1501–1553
Defenestration as Ritual Punishment: Windows, Power, and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe

Journal of Modern History 89, no. 1

2017, pp. 1–38
Living Stones: The House as Actor in Early Modern Europe

Journal of Urban History 42, no. 4

2016, pp. 659–687
‘They shall not keep their doors or windows open’: Urban Space and the Dynamics of Conflict and Contact in Premodern Jewish-Christian Relations

European History Quarterly 46, no. 2.

2016, pp. 209–237. Winner of the journal’s annual prize for the best article published in 2016
Window Gazes and World Views: A Chapter in the Cultural History of Vision

Critical Inquiry 42

2016, no. 3, pp. 611–646
Smashed Panes and ‘Terrible Showers’: Windows, Violence, and Honor in the Early Modern City

West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture 22, no. 2

2015, pp. 131–156
Entering a City: On a Lost Early Modern Practice

Urban History 41, no. 2

2014, pp. 204–227. Winner of the Dyos prize for the best article submitted to the journal in 2012
Interfaith Encounters between Jews and Christians in the Early Modern Period and Beyond: Toward a Framework

American Historical Review 118, no. 2

2013, pp. 378–400
Trading in Secrets: Jews and the Early Modern Quest for Clandestine Knowledge

Isis 103, no. 4

2012, pp. 668–686

Click here for a full list of Daniel's publications.