Pauline Alice Maier (née Rubbelke; April 27, 1938 – August 12, 2013) was a revisionist[1] historian of the American Revolution, whose work also addressed the late colonial period and the history of the United States after the end of the Revolutionary War.

Maier achieved prominence over a fifty-year career of critically acclaimed scholarly histories and journal articles.

[8] The couple returned to Harvard University to pursue doctoral degrees, Charles in European history, and Pauline in 20th century urban studies in line with her interest in contemporary politics.

[12] Maier chaired a university-wide committee at MIT in 1985 to re-organize its humanities schools and broaden and structure its programs.

[13] Its adopted recommendations expanded women's studies, awarded specific area degrees, and initiated a doctoral program collaborating history and anthropology under Dean Ann Fetter Friedlaender.

The society's past presidents include Allan Nevins, Eric Foner, James M. McPherson, and David McCullough.

[20] In 2012, President Obama appointed Maier to the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation Board of Trustees.

The foundation was created by Congress in 1986 as part of the bicentennial celebration of the Constitution and offers $24,000 graduate-level fellowships to secondary teachers to undertake a master's degree which emphasizes the study of the Constitution.jamesmadison.gov Maier's writing is characterized as serious and unadorned, with a crossover appeal from scholars to intelligent readers who enjoy a well-told story of well-researched scholarly history.

[9] In Ratification, Maier attributed her storytelling ability to Barbara Tuchman's insight that the writer can build suspense by never acknowledging a development until the characters in the narrative could know it.

As a democratic country, the U.S. should give any student a background knowledge of what happened to make the Declaration and the Constitution, and how their uses changed.

The spreading ideas of natural rights and individual liberty distinctively altered politics, economy and society.

[26] Neo-progressives show that the structural economic change in the English Atlantic empire and local profit margins counted as much for merchants and planters as a colonial concern for Parliament's enactments.

[27] Maier's take is found in "From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765–1776".

Neo-Whigs in general answer that doctrine of every kind was underpinned by a colonial social reality that was by its nature uncertain and unstable.

Maier contributed to the wider sensibility with her article "Popular Uprisings in 18th Century America" in the William and Mary Quarterly, featured in a reissue of their 50-year best.

[31] A recent collection by Donald A. Yerxa looks towards finding a 'reconceptualization' of the field with chronological bounds based on newly researched continuity and change, along with more coherent themes.

Maier's section was a forum on historiography, Peter C. Mancall led 'the colonial period', and Gordon S. Wood started 'revolution and early republic'.

Maier began the historiography section with three "Disjunctions" based on her previous work at NEH and a newly written rejoinder following comments by five other scholars.

Colonial history from the Amerindian experience reaches a discontinuity at a time when U.S. imperialism overtakes earlier Hispanic developments in the 1800s.

The challenge is to find a bridge from modern fruitful research into the previous scholarship based on national boundaries.

While bestsellers are written on Franklin, Washington, Adams, and '1776', many modern, cultural historians shun white male elites.

"Nation" is dismissed as an imagined or invented construct and 'nationalism' in their critique lacks explanatory power for inclusive historical analysis.

[35] Maier's third disjunction, related to the second, is between historical scholarship and history taught in secondary schools and college survey courses.

See titles re-listed below in "Books and scholarly articles" for approving and critical reviews, online interviews, panel discussion and lectures associated with each one.

"[9] To "synthesize and perpetuate the contributions of previous scholars … in the classroom,"[36] she writes college textbooks and uses them to teach undergraduates.

Maier writes online courses available at her university and used by other universities[46] Beyond traditional college offerings, Maier integrated participatory learning, political history and social history in a collaboration with online MUVE gaming project in a format that younger "digital divide" learners find engaging.

She has been a TAH presenter and her books are used for required readings in college credit courses around the country for high school teachers to acquire a better background in American history.

[47] Texts Online courses Avatar virtual gaming Lectures and panel discussions Popular reviews and columns Maier wrote popular book reviews and opinion columns for several periodicals, including the New York Times (NYT) Books, Arts and Opinion pages, all relating to her scholarly area of expertise.

"Reversal of Fortune" November 16, 1997. on Richard M. Ketchum's "Saratoga: turning point of America's Revolutionary War".

TV and video series In her scholarly career, Pauline Maier found collaborative work among many academic institutions.