Hamilton M. Stapell is Professor of History at SUNY New Paltz and a historian of modern Europe. His research examines how people and communities respond to periods of rapid political, cultural, and social change, with particular emphasis on modern Spain, popular social movements, and the history of health and physical culture.

His scholarship on modern Spain has explored national and regional identity, democratization, Americanization, urban culture, and political participation. He is the author of Remaking Madrid: Culture, Politics, and Identity after Franco, a study of Madrid’s cultural and political transformation during Spain’s transition to democracy.

His more recent work examines movements that have challenged modern ways of living by appealing to nature, evolution, and the human past. His article “Postmodern Cavemen: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of the Paleo Diet, 2000–2025” is forthcoming in Gastronomica in 2027. He is also completing an article on foreign women and political participation in the Spanish Civil War and developing a book project on evolution, health, and the European physical-culture movement.

Professor Stapell teaches courses in modern and medieval European history, Western intellectual history, and the relationship between individuals and society. He also created one of the first college-level courses to examine the possible practical applications of evolutionary theory to human health.

He serves on the board of the Evolutionary Studies Program at SUNY New Paltz. From 2012 to 2022, he was an associate editor of the Journal of Evolution and Health.

Professor Stapell’s teaching has been recognized with the Liberal Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year Award, the Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has taught in the SUNY New Paltz Honors Program since 2009.

Before joining the faculty at SUNY New Paltz, he taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point and in the Revelle Humanities Program at the University of California, San Diego.