Mark is an avid writer who allows his myriad interests and passions to dictate what he’s writing about.
A former high school English teacher, Mark was once quoted as saying,
“I know great writing: Khaled Hosseini, Elie Wiesel, J.K. Rowling, Sherman Alexie, those are great writers. I’m not a great writer, but I’m good, and I’m ok with that—that and trying to get a little better every time I pick up my pen.”
Having recently completed
The Rise of Napa Valley Wineries: How the Judgment of Paris put California Wine on the Map (The History Press, 2023),
Mark is now working on several different writing projects, centering around two distinct areas of interest: genocide studies and the viniculture industry.
Genocide Studies
In 2019, Mark launched a nationwide survey that followed up on his dissertation research and helped shed further light on how American teachers approach genocide studies in the classroom. The research Mark has currently undertaken examines twelve distinct instances of genocide, by far the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, and seeks to learn everything from how much time teachers devote to each topic to what materials they use when doing so. The research will be presented at conferences, disseminated amongst institutions that focus on Holocaust and genocide studies, and eventually published in a book. In addition, Mark continues his research in Bosnia on the Sarajevo Roses.
LEARN MOREMARK’S BOOKSBooks
If you would like a signed copy of any of Mark’s books, please click the button below!
REQUESTED SIGNED BOOKEssays
In addition to writing books, Mark authors numerous essays, poems, and academic articles each year on a variety of topics for both print and online publications. Below are links to some of Mark’s recent work. If you have need of a complete list of Mark’s publications, please click the button below.
REQUEST FULL LISTEssays published for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023
Essays about Extraordinary Teachers
“In my Classroom with Sari Beth Rosenberg” for We are Teachers
READ“Putting the ‘home’ in Homeroom” for The Voice (p. 21)
READ“Representation Matters” for The Voice (p. 23)
READ“In my Classroom with Allyssa Allaire: Having dyslexia doesn’t have to stop you from becoming an English teacher” for We are Teachers
READThe Rise of Napa Valley Wineries
How the Judgement of Paris Put California Wine on the Map
In 1976, the picturesque, agrarian Napa Valley was all but unknown to those who didn’t live there. That changed dramatically when Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher decided to host a tasting of American and French wines in Paris.
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Think Higher Feel Deeper
Approaching the Holocaust in your classroom can be a difficult, often daunting task. This practical guide for English and social studies teachers features lessons learned from the author’s 17 years of experience teaching the subject in public schools, as well as his work with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Using anecdotes and empirical data, Gudgel offers advice for teaching the Holocaust in a way that is nuanced, socially responsible, and historically accurate. He provides guidance on common challenges and questions teachers will encounter, such as correcting misconceptions, using films, and discussing genocide with secondary students. While World War II grows ever more distant in the past, the lessons of the Holocaust are perhaps more relevant today than ever before. It may never be easy to teach about the Holocaust, but it can be done in ways that make it edifying and empowering, rather than causing despair. This approach is as important for educators as it is for their students.
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“Mark Gudgel suffers from an illness far in excess of typical white guilt. It is that near-suicidal self-assault of historical truth. All the euphemistic prisms thorough which the harsh light of time is bent into glow-in-the-dark velvet paintings, the brilliant spectra of Navaho weavings, or carved cedar cigar-store totems he redirects back upon itself – tying himself and all of us together in a knot of all our shame and lies. So as it is true for our Native sisters and brothers, reading this book our continent becomes a wasteland in which there are no rest stops nor places to hide.” – Greg Kuzma “If you are a reader with thin skin, you might not want to pursue these poems and stories. They pack a variety of punches – some social, others political, many religious. More than a few combine the punches, and the upshot is a challenging laying-out of the writer’s convictions.”
– William Kloefkorn
Accessing Darfur
A Teacher’s Guide to Addressing the Ongoing Genocide in Sudan
Marlowe – “Mark Gudgel not only provides his students with the opportunity to see themselves as engaged citizens of the world–he makes it possible for other educators to do so as well, by providing this heartfelt guide, clearly inspired by Mr. Gudgel’s own passion and commitment to creating, with his students, the kind of world we all want our children to live in.”
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