​David Shearer specializes in Soviet and twentieth-century European history. He received his B.A. from Ohio State University in 1974 and his Ph.D. from the ​University of Pennsylvania in 1988. Professor Shearer has published books on early Soviet political economy, on the social history of the Soviet security police, and on Stalinism in general. His most recent book, Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat (2023) is with Routledge Press. Professor Shearer has also authored articles on Soviet historiography, social history of the 1920s and 1930s, and foreign exploration in central Asia and Mongolia. More generally, Professor Shearer has an interest in the changing notions of modernity.​​