I’m writer, scholar, and filmmaker, and a professor emeritus at Rutgers University. I hold an A.B. in American Studies from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
My first book, Black Trials: Citizenship From the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), received a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for its impact on the public understanding of law. My second book, Americans without Law: The Racial Boundaries of Citizenship (NYU Press, 2006), received the President’s Book Award of the Social Science History Association. My third book, The Rule of the Clan: What an Ancient Form of Social Organization Reveals about the Future of Individual Freedom (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), received the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
My fourth book, Law’s Picture Books: The Yale Law Library Collection, a co-authored and co-edited exhibition catalogue, with Michael Widener (Talbot Publishing, 2017), received the Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award from the American Association of Law Libraries. The book is the catalogue of our critically-acclaimed exhibition of 2017 at the Grolier Club in New York.
My latest feature-length documentary, “The Volunteers: Mountain Rescue Brings Us Home,” is available on PBS Passport in its 56-minute cut and on Prime Video in an 86-minute version. The 106-minute director’s cut is available upon request.
I have been a visiting professor at Cardozo School of Law and the University of Connecticut School of Law (read more about my teaching here). I’ve also taught quite a bit in Europe. In the fall of 2009, I was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Akureyri, Iceland. In the spring of 2015, I was a Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Legal Philosophy at the University of Salzburg, Austria. In 2018-19, I was the Fulbright Uppsala University Distinguished Chair in American Studies in Uppsala, Sweden. I’ve likewise lectured and taught extensively about American constitutional law throughout Germany. Born and raised proudly in the United States, I hold dual citizenship with Croatia.
I live in Connecticut with my wife, a professor of nineteenth-century British literature at Wesleyan University. In our spare time, we enjoy hiking, biking, and watching women’s basketball. I can spend endless hours fiddling with my stereo and doing home repair.
Mark S. Weiner 