Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is an American historian and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Department of History.^[1] She describes herself as wearing "... two hats, one as a historian of early modern Europe and the other as a world/global historian, with a primary focus on women, gender, and sexuality within these".^[1]

She is editor-in-chief of the seven-volume 2015 Cambridge World History, and co-editor of three of its parts: Volume 5: Expanding Webs of Exchange and Conflict, 500CE–1500CE (ISBN 9780521190749) with Benjamin Z. Kedar and Volume 6: The Construction of a Global World, 1400–1800 CE, Part 1: Foundations (ISBN 9780521761628) and Part 2: Patterns of Change (ISBN 9780521192460) with Jerry H. Bentley and Sanjay Subrahmanyam.^[2]

She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and before moving to the University of Wisconsin she was an assistant professor at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, from 1979 to 1985.^[3]

Wiesner-Hanks is a senior editor of The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies,^[4] and an editor of the Journal of Global History.^[5]

Her books include Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe; Gender in History: Global Perspectives; Early Modern Europe, 1450–1789; and A Concise History of the World. Wiesner-Hanks also contributed to the textbook A History of Western Society with John P. McKay,^[6] which has been published in several editions and is often used in Advanced Placement European History classes.^[7]