Jacob Soll
Research & Practice Areas
The history of information and knowledge; political history; economic history; history of books and libraries; accounting; the history of political and financial transparency. The Renaissance and Enlightenments.
Biography
Jacob Soll is professor of history and accounting at the University of Southern California.
He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, a D.E.A. from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France, and a Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes including two NEH Fellowships, the Jacques Barzun Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and, in 2011, the MacArthur Fellowship.
Soll’s first book, Publishing “The Prince” (2005), examines how Machiavelli’s work was popularized and influenced modern political thought. It won...
Education
- Ph.D. Magdalene College, Cambridge University, 1998
- M.A.S École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1993
- B.A. History and French, University of Iowa, 1991
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Summary Statement of Research Interests
My work examines the origins of modern politics and the modern state by looking at essential elements often overlooked by political historians. My first book, Publishing The Prince examined how editors and publishers transformed Machiavelli’s classic work The Prince, making it into a radical work. A second book, The Information Master looks at how Louis XIV’s famous minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert used libraries, accounting, classical scholars and scientists to make an information network to build a modern state. New work continues down these avenues. My most recent book, The Reckoning, is a cultural and intellectual history of accounting and financial accountability. My current project is a new intellectual history of economic policy, free market thought and accounting based on the history of philosophy, rhetoric and utopian political theory and he ideas of nature and the lasting influence of the cult of agrarian society. I continue to work on my history of libraries and their relationship to the Enlightenment.
Research Specialties
The history of information and knowledge; political history; economic history; history of books and libraries; accounting; the history of political and financial transparency. The Renaissance and Enlightenments.
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- USC University Professor, 07/01/2012 –
- Kazarian Foundation Fellowship, 2021-2022
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, Public Scholar Grant, 2018-2019
- MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Fellowship, 2012
- Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, 2009-2010
- Visiting Scholar, Trinity College, Cambridge University, 2009
- Fernand Braudel Visiting Professor, European University Institute, Florence, Italy, 2007
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2005-2006
- American Philosphical Society, Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History, American Philosophical Society,, 2005
- American Philosphical Society, Franklin Grant, American Philosophical Society, 2004
- Selma V. Forkosch Prize for the Best Article Published in the Journal of the History of Ideas in the Year , 2000-2001
- Luso-American Foundation Research Fellowship, Summer, 05/15/1998 – 08/15/1998
- Magdalene College Research Scholarship, 05/15/1998 – 08/15/1998
- Magdalene College Leslie Wilson Research Scholarship, 05/15/1997 – 08/15/1997
- Cambridge Historical Society Research Grant, 03/1997 – 04/1997
- Magdalene College Research Award, 03/1997 – 04/1997
- Bibliographical Society Research Grant, 03/1996 – 04/1996
- Prince Consort and Thirlwall Fund Grant, 03/1996 – 04/1996
- Royal Historical Society Research Grant, 01/1996 – 03/1996
- Overseas Research Scholarship, 1995
- otary Club Study Abroad Fellowship, 1991
- Phi Beta Kappa University of Iowa, 1991