Mark is an outstanding editor. He worked with me on a journal article manuscript that became tremendously better thanks to him, both in terms of style and content. His training as a scholar makes him raise challenging questions about structure and lines of argument that go beyond mere copy-editing.
Mark’s knowledge of German history gives him a real advantage as a translator of both primary- and secondary-source German texts. He has an excellent understanding of terminology, which is essential in producing accurate translations—whether of historical documents or modern-day scholarly texts. Additionally, Mark devotes careful attention to syntax, style, and rhythm, so that his translations are more than just correct, they are also a pleasure to read. Sometimes a slight change in punctuation or word order makes all the difference.
Mark edited an academic journal article for me on German family firm governance. He was an incredible collaborator, not just doing the copy-editing you would get from a regular editor but truly engaging with the content of my work. He made many invaluable suggestions for improving the flow of the argument and I am extremely grateful for the time he took to help this project to success.
Mark Stoneman is a first-class editor, as I had the chance to observe closely when he edited a set of thirty-six blog posts written by a very international set of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty for a conference. By the time he finished editing the essays, each one was an exemplar of accessible scholarship. We were working under a tight deadline, and I appreciated Mark’s calm, wry demeanor as well as his timeliness. I recommend him without hesitation.
Mark Stoneman did superb editorial work on several articles that were published in the German Historical Institute’s Bulletin. Mark brings a rare combination of skills to his work: he’s not only an excellent editor of English-language texts but also a professional historian, with a Ph.D. in history, which allows him to go well beyond copy-editing when working on academic texts in history and the humanities. He is also fluent in German, which makes him especially well-suited for editing the English-language texts produced by native German speakers. Regardless of the subject matter of a text, Mark is able to address not only matters of grammar and style, but to detect and solve problems with the flow of an author’s argument. Mark stands out for his ability and willingness to critically engage with texts and give them the kind of careful editorial attention that most texts never receive from an editor.
Mark has served as editor for two special issues of peer-reviewed journals that I edited with a colleague. He not only translated German texts excellently and edited English texts by non-native authors highly professionally, but has also shown an excellent sense for the respective profiles of the journals (historical / interdisciplinary) and thus gave us all important suggestions on structure and argumentation. Many thanks for that!
Working with Mark Stoneman as an editor on my blog article was an excellent experience. My article improved considerably both in terms of language and logical structure thanks to Mark’s close work on the text. What I enjoyed most, however, was that Mark also engaged with the content and my ideas, giving me inspiring thoughts and challenging me to think about new aspects.
During my tenure as the GHI’S director, Mark was on the founding team of the “World of Consumption” series. Mark is not only a proficient translator and a thorough editor but also an efficient organizer who dealt with authors and publishers in a highly professional manner. Mark has a large share in the success of the series. Working with him was always a constructive and pleasant experience.
Mark Stoneman is a seasoned historian of modern Germany with a ‘go-to’ reputation for polished and reliable editorial work.
Mark has edited a variety of texts for me over the past ten years—from blog posts for a general audience to scholarly articles and edited volumes. He is a great editor with a great sense not only for language, but also for different audiences and their needs. Mark does not hesitate to provide critical feedback and my texts have greatly benefited from this. His questions and his attention to precise wording, formatting detail, and consistency always added clarity to my prose and helped me sharpen my arguments.
Mark’s language skills and enthusiasm for text are just superb. What I liked best was that he challenged me content-wise when editing my writing. Mark is an excellent teacher, too. He explained all his edits very well.