About
MAJOR INTERESTS
Professor Nolan’s teaching and research interests fall within the general areas of law and society, culture, technology and social change, and historical comparative sociology. His most recent book, Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, was published with Harvard University Press in 2020. His previous books include What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb (2016); Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement (2009); Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement (2001); and The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End (1998). He is the recipient of several grants and awards including National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and a Fulbright scholarship. He has held visiting fellowships at Oxford University, Loughborough University, and the University of Notre Dame.
Education
B.A. University of California-Davis (1984)
M.A. University of Virginia (1992)
Ph.D. University of Virginia, Sociology (1995)
Courses
- SOC 213/HIST 216/ASIA 223 SEM Remembering Nagasaki (not offered 2026/27)
- SOC 224/STS 224/HIST 273 LEC Going Nuclear: American Culture in the Atomic Age (not offered 2026/27)
- SOC 244/AMST 244/HIST 366 SEM What They Saw in America (not offered 2026/27)
- SOC 368 SEM Technology and Modern Society (not offered 2026/27)
Publications
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. Harvard University Press, Belknap, 2020.
- What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving CourtMovement. Princeton University Press, 2009.
- Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement. Princeton University Press, 2001.
- The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End. New York University Press, 1998.
- Editor, Drug Courts: In Theory and in Practice. Aldine de Gruyter, 2002.
- Editor, The American Culture Wars: Current Contests and Future Prospects. University of Virginia Press, 1996.