Peter Sahlins (BA, Harvard 1980; Ph.D., Princeton 1986) is an award-winning historian of early modern Europe. He is professor of history emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for more than thirty years. Sahlins is the author of six books and dozens of articles covering a wide range of topics, from the history of the French-Spanish borderland to popular revolts in the nineteenth century, and from immigration and nationality law in early modern and revolutionary France to animal-human relations at the court of Louis XIV. His works include: Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees (1989); Unnaturally French: Foreign Citizens in Ancien Regime France and After (2004); and 1668: The Year of the Animal in France (2017). Most recently, he has turned to prehistory. His forthcoming trade book, Neanderthals Among Us: The Making of a Prehistoric Human (Oneworld, 2026), to be published on October 1, 2026, explores the science, rhetoric, and myths of Neanderthals since their discovery in 1856. Peter splits his times between Paris and Arcy-sur-Cure, where he offers guided tours to the famous prehistoric caves.
© Ramona Naddaff
