Christoph Irmscher is an expert on Louis Agassiz, having written a definitive biography, Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science (Houghton Mifflin), which was an Editors’ Choice of the New York Times Book Review. He is also an expert on 19th century photography and its reception as well as ecocriticism, specifically early American nature writing. His Poetics of Natural History, a study of early American natural history, was recently republished in 20th anniversary edition, with photographs by Rosamond Purcell. Irmscher’s work has made profound contributions to the fields of American literature, American and European history, environmental humanities, and the history of science. By intertwining the discourse of subjective aesthetics and objective science through textual analysis, historical context, and visual culture, his work has illuminated the crosscurrents of social relations in terms of class, race, gender, and human-nature interactions. Irmscher was a three-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Balakian Prize for Excellence in Reviewing. He regularly writes reviews for The Wall Street Journal and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle. Irmscher is collaborating with Anita Ekman and Sandra Benites to research and produce a book about the legacy of the Thayer expedition.
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