Brian D. Bunk
Senior Lecturer II of History
OFFICE HOURS
BACKGROUND
Brian D. Bunk teaches courses in world history, modern Europe and the history of sport.
In addition to the introductory world history survey classes, he regularly offers History 281: The Global History of Soccer; History 282: The Global History of Sport; History 386: A Survey of World War II and History 391: The Spanish Civil War.
His research is focused on the history of soccer and has published three books on the subject, The Shortest History of Soccer: From Ancient Kicking Games to the World's Most Popular Sport (The Experiment, 2026), Beyond the Field: How Soccer Built Community in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2025), and From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2021).
Previous books include Ghosts of Passion: Martyrdom, Gender, and the Origins of the Spanish Civil War (Duke University Press, 2007) and as co-editor, Nation and Conflict in Modern Spain: Essays in Honor of Stanley G. Payne (Parallel Press, 2008).
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison (2000)
SPECIALIZATIONS
- Modern Europe
- Spain
- World History
- Sport History
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- “Colleen Bawns and Bonnie Lassies: Women’s Soccer and Sporting Culture in Nineteenth Century San Francisco” in Soccer Frontiers. the Global Game in the United States, 1863-1913, Chris Bolsmann and George Kioussis, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2021).
- “Football Outside the Schools in the United States before Codification” in The Early Development of Football: Contemporary Debates, Graham Curry, ed. (London: Routledge Press, 2019).
- “Pageants, Popularity Contests and Spanish Identities in 1920s New York” in Hidden out in the Open: European Spanish Labor Migrants in the Progressive Era, Phylis Martinelli and Ana María Varela-Lago, eds. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2019).
- “Sport in an Authoritarian Regime: The Primo de Rivera Era in Spain, 1923-30” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies vol. 42, 2 (2017) Article 5.
- “Boxer in New York: Spaniards, Puerto Ricans and Attempts to Construct a Hispano Race.” Journal of American Ethnic History vol. 35, 4 (Summer 2016): 32-58.
- “A ‘Suspiciously Swarthy’ Boxer: Luis Firpo and the Ambiguities of the Latin Race.” Radical History Review Issue 125 (May 2016): 97-115.