My name is Ed Woell and I’m a history professor at Western Illinois University, as well the director of graduate studies in history. 

Specializing in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, I teach history courses on Old-Regime Europe (1648-1789), the Enlightenment (c. 1721-1784), the French Revolution and Napoleon (1789-1815), Crime, Policing, and Punishment (c. 1750 BCE to the present), and Historical Theory and Methods.

My academic research and writing focus on the French Revolution, particularly aspects of it in which religion, politics, and ordinary people collided. I’m reluctant to label myself a “religious,” “social,” or “political” historian, however, because I find these monikers reductive of my scholarly approach and the subject matter that I study. I’ve written one book, multiple articles, and numerous book chapters.  I’m currently engaged in the process of writing more.

I reside in southeast Macomb with my spouse and our one child.  When not teaching, researching, or writing, I can often be found on my road bicycle traversing the rural byways of McDonough County.

Please feel free to look around this site. I welcome your comments and critiques via email at ej-woell@wiu.edu.