Peter Nathaniel Stearns (born March 3, 1936) is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014.^[1]

Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.

He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.

Peter Stearns was born in London, but of American parents (Raymond and Elizabeth) and was an American citizen at birth. He was raised in Urbana, Illinois and attended public grade school and then the University of Illinois High School. After graduating from Harvard College, summa cum laude, he had a traveling fellowship in Europe and then returned to complete his PhD at Harvard. He has four children and a stepson, and five grandchildren. He has held positions at the University of Chicago, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon, and now George Mason.

He attended Harvard College and later received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.^[2] In his prolific career as an author and editor, he has written or edited over 135 different books. Stearns served as founding chair of the Advanced Placement World History committee and as Vice President for Teaching of the American Historical Association.^[3]

His books include:

• 1848: The Revolutionary Tide in Europe, Norton, 1974
• American Behavioral History
• American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-century Emotional Style. NYU Press. 1994. ISBN 978-0-8147-7996-5.
• Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. NYU Press. 1 November 2004. ISBN 978-0-8147-9849-2.
• Carol Zisowitz Stearns; Peter N. Stearns (15 June 1989). Anger: The Struggle for Emotional Control in America's History. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-77152-6.
• Battleground of Desire
• Childhood in World History. Routledge. 2 May 2006. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-134-26260-1.
• Consumerism in World History: The Global Transformation of Desire. Routledge. 18 April 2006. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-134-15677-1.
• Cultural Change in Modern World History
• Cultures in Motion
• Debating the Industrial Revolution (2015)
• Documents in World History
• Emotion and Social Change
• Encyclopedia of European Social History
• The Encyclopedia of World History
• Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West. NYU Press. 1 September 2002. ISBN 978-0-8147-3982-2.
• Gender in World History. Routledge. 18 April 2006. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-1-134-15669-6.
• Global Outrage
• Globalization in World History. Routledge. 20 October 2009. ISBN 978-1-135-25993-8.
• Growing Up: The History of Childhood in a Global Context. Baylor University Press. 1 January 2005. ISBN 978-1-932792-28-7.
• Guiding the American University: Challenges and Choices (2015)
• History of Shame (2017)
• Time in World History (2019)
• Human Rights in World History. Routledge. 4 May 2012. ISBN 978-1-136-31812-2.
• The Industrial Revolution in World History. Westview Press. 7 August 2012. ISBN 978-0-8133-4730-1.
• Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives
• Lives of Labour: Work in a Maturing Industrial Society (1975)
• Peace in World History. Taylor & Francis. 3 April 2014. ISBN 978-1-134-75721-3.
• Peacebuilding Through Dialogue: Education, Human Transformation, and Conflict Resolution. George Mason University Press in collaboration with the Ikeda Center. December 2018. ISBN 978-1-942695-11-0.
• Satisfaction Not Guaranteed: Dilemmas of Progress in Modern Society. NYU Press. 30 April 2012. ISBN 978-0-8147-8855-4.
• Sexuality in World History. Routledge. 18 February 2009. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-1-135-96896-0.
• The Industrial Turn in World History (2016)
• The Revolutions of 1848 (1974)
• Tolerance in World History
• Western Civilization in World History. Routledge. 28 January 2008. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-1-134-37475-5.
• World Civilizations
• World History in Brief
• World History: Patterns of Change and Continuity

• List of Carnegie Mellon University people
• List of Harvard University people
• List of historians
• List of people from Virginia