Sean Brennan

Professor of History

Sean Brennan is a Professor of History, he joined the History department at the University of Scranton in July 2009. He was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1979. He received his BA in History from Rockhurst University in 2001, his MA in History from Villanova University in 2003, and achieved his doctorate in History from the University of Notre Dame in May 2009. He teaches courses in Modern European History at the department, in particular courses in Modern Russian, German and Austrian History, as well as courses on the Second World War and the Cold War, and the Craft of the Historian and the Senior Seminar. He has also taught at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He has been the Program Director for the National History Day competition in Region 2 - Northeastern Pennsylvania, since 2019 as well as the State Coordinator for National History Day in Pennsylvania since 2024.  He has written five books, the first, The Politics of Religion in Soviet-Occupied Germany: The Case of Berlin-Brandenburg 1945-1949, was published by Lexington Books in November 2011, the second, The Priest Who Put Europe Back Together: The Life of Fabian Flynn, CP was published by The Catholic University of America Press in December 2018.  The third, The KGB and the Vatican: Secrets of Mitrokhin Files was published by The Catholic Education Press in August 2022.  The fourth, Warren Austin, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, and the Cold War at the United Nations 1947-1960, was published by Lexington Books in December 2022.  The fifth, The Essential Speeches of the Cold War, was published by Routledge Press in September 2024.  He has also published articles and reviews in journals such as US Catholic Historian, Church History, American Catholic Studies, German Studies Review, EuropeNow, the Journal of Jesuit Studies, the Journal of Radio and Audio Media, and the American Historical Review, and serves on the editorial board of The Cold War Encyclopedia, published by Routledge Press.  He is married to Stephanie Longo, a professor of Corporate Communication at the Pennsylvania State University-Scranton, as well as a  journalist, historian, and an expert on Italian American history. He lives in South Abington Township, Pennsylvania.