Bertrand Patenaude in Vienna

Bert Patenaude, MA ’79, PhD ’87, was first introduced to Vienna’s rich past, old-world charms, vibrant music culture, and splendid cuisine when he spent his junior year abroad there in 1975–76. He was so smitten with the historic city that he returned in 1977 for a year of graduate courses at the University of Vienna before embarking on his doctoral studies in European history at Stanford. Over the years, Bert has been a frequent visitor to Vienna and the lands of the former Habsburg Empire. He lectured at the University of Vienna in the spring of 2024.

As a lecturer in history and international relations at Stanford, Bert has spoken frequently on the history of Vienna and Central Europe, especially its turbulent 20th century. During our program, his lecture topics will include the Habsburg monarchy, Vienna’s fin-de-siècle art and architecture, Austria’s 20th-century history, and Vienna's unique café culture. Throughout our visit, he will describe the city’s remarkable transformation across the years: from 1865, when Emperor Franz Josef opened the Ring Road, now one of the city’s major architectural attractions, to the gritty postwar capital depicted in the 1949 noir film The Third Man, to the vibrant Vienna of the present day, named the most livable city in the world in 2024.

• Lecturer, history and international relations, Stanford University, since 1991

• Research fellow, Hoover Institution, since 1992

• Author, Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary (HarperCollins, 2009)

• Book review contributor, The Wall Street Journal

• BA ’77, political science, Boston College

• MA ’79 and PhD ’87, history—both Stanford University