Jackson J. Spielvogel

Jackson Joseph Spielvogel (born 1939) was an associate professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University. His textbooks are commonly used in middle school, high school, and college Western Civilization classes. Spielvogel holds a Ph.D., from Ohio State University, and specialized in Reformation history under the supervision of Harold J. Grimm.

As a professor at Pennsylvania State University, he has been influential in the development of the Western civilization courses, and teaches a very popular course on Nazi Germany.

His articles and reviews have appeared in journals such as the Morena, Journal of General Education, The Catholic Historical Review, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, The American Historical Review, and Utopian Studies. He has also been the contributor of various chapters or articles to The Social History of the Reformation, The Holy Roman Empire: A Dictionary Handbook, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual of Holocaust Studies,. Much of his work has been the result of funding and fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the Foundation for Reformation Research.

He has received five major university-wide awards in teaching, including the 1988-89 Penn State Teaching Fellowship, the most prestigious teaching award given by the university. His books focus teaching of European history due to his main studies of Reformation history. However some of his works in World History can include magnificent writings on the Chinese and the Arab customs.

Spielvogel was widely loved by his students and his classes were among the most popular at Penn State during his tenure. He would often begin his course Nazism and Fascism in Germany with music from Wagner or other classical music and he taught with passion, high energy, and the active participation of his students.

Jackson Spielvogel was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania in 1940. Spielvogel married his high-school sweetheart, Diane Spielvogel. They had four children and eventually, seven grandchildren.

Spielvogel is the author of several textbooks commonly used in high school AP European History courses, the equivalent of a Western Civilization Freshmen college course. His book Hitler and Nazi Germany was first published in 1987, with the fourth edition published in 2001. Spielvogel is also the coauthor of World History, first published in 1998 with the third edition in 2001, and The Essential World History, first edition in 2002, with William J. Duiker.

• The Essential World History (2nd Edition—2001) ISBN 0-534-62712-9
• Hitler and Nazi Germany (4th Edition—2001) ISBN 0-13-975996-4
• Western Civilization: Volume II: Since 1300 (5th Edition—2003) ISBN 0-534-60008-5

• WorldCat author listing