Axel R. Schäfer is professor of American history at the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. His publications focus on religion and politics, transatlantic intellectual history, and social policy. In his current projects he explores the relationship of American evangelicalism with empire, and the nexus between immigration and welfare states in the twentieth century. For details please see http://www.obama-institute.com/schaefer/.