H.W. Brands | |
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![]() Brands at the 2012 Texas Book Festival | |
Born | Portland, Oregon, U.S | August 7, 1953
Children | Hal Brands |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Doctoral advisor | Robert A. Divine |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History |
Sub-discipline | American history |
Institutions | |
Notable students | |
Main interests | American history |
Henry William Brands Jr. (born August 7, 1953) is an American historian. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD in history in 1985. He has authored more than thirty books on U.S. history. His works have twice been selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
[edit]Born in 1953, Brands grew up in Oregon in the Portland metropolitan area. He attended Jesuit High School, where he was a three-sport athlete and National Merit Scholar. Brands enrolled at Stanford University, where he studied mathematics and history. After receiving his undergraduate degree in history in 1975,[4] he worked for a year doing sales in his family's cutlery business before returning to Jesuit High School to teach mathematics. He taught at the high school for the next five years. While doing so he earned an MA in liberal studies from Reed College in 1978, followed by an MS in mathematics from Portland State in 1981. During this period he came to realize that he wanted to write for a living, and determined his love of history might provide an avenue for him to do so.[5] He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin to study under historian Robert A. Divine. He wrote his dissertation on the Eisenhower administration and its foreign policy during the Cold War, earning his PhD in history in 1985.[6]
Academic career
[edit]While working on his doctorate, Brands taught social studies and math courses - world history, U.S. history, algebra, and calculus—at Kirby Hall School and Austin Community College District. His preferred mode of transit was his bicycle, as he commuted between classes at the University of Texas and his teaching responsibilities at the college preparatory school on the fringe of the UT campus and ACC's Rio Grande site in Central Austin. In his first year after completing his doctorate, Brands worked as an oral historian at the University of Texas School of Law. The following year he taught at Vanderbilt University. In 1987 he accepted an academic post at Texas A&M University, where he remained for the next seventeen years. He made the daily commute from his home in Austin to teach in College Station. In 2005, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was formerly the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History and Professor of Government and now holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History.
Writings
[edit]Examples of Brands' biographical histories include his biographies on Benjamin Franklin, covering the colonial period and the Revolutionary War; Andrew Jackson, covering the War of 1812, western expansion and the conflict over the National Bank; Ulysses S. Grant, covering the Civil War and Reconstruction; Theodore Roosevelt, covering the Industrial Era and the Progressive Movement; and Franklin D. Roosevelt, covering the Great Depression, the New Deal, the Second World War, and the ascension of the U.S. as an international power.[7]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/H._W._Brands.jpg/220px-H._W._Brands.jpg)
He holds a progressive view of the nation's founders and the United States Constitution, arguing that the founders were at heart radicals who were willing to challenge the status quo in search of a better future. That being so, he believes that Americans today should not be constrained by the views of self-government held by the founders. "In revering the founders we undervalue ourselves and sabotage our own efforts to make necessary improvements in the republican experiment they began. Our love of the founders leads us to abandon and even betray the principles they fought for."[8] He believes the framers would not want the Constitution to be interpreted by the idea of original intent, and believes that we are in error when we view the founders in a "deified" way.[5] "The one thing that [the Founders] did have was an audacity to challenge conventional wisdom."[9]
Brands believes that Americans place too much importance on the individual in the White House. "We have this very interesting relationship with the presidents where the president is supposed to be one of us, but on the other hand he represents everybody so he is sort of above all of us. We make too much of presidents, but we can hardly help ourselves."[10] Though noting how the power of the presidency has increased greatly since the start of the twentieth century, when the United States emerged as a significant world power and U.S. foreign policy became far more important, Brands believes that popular focus on the president is excessive. "We have a cult of the president, where we make too big a deal of the president."[11]
In addition to his works on U.S. history, Brands has written books on the economic development of the United States and biographies of key leaders in corporate America. His books are known for their readability and narrative thrust.[12] He has authored over thirty books and produced numerous articles that have been featured in newspapers and magazines. His writings have received critical and popular acclaim. The First American was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Prize, as well as a New York Times bestseller. The Age of Gold was a Washington Post Best Book of 2002 and a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Andrew Jackson was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2005 and a Washington Post bestseller. What America Owes the World was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize in international affairs. The Wages of Globalism was a Choice Outstanding Academic Book winner. Lone Star Nation won the Deolece Parmelee Award. Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was his second finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has appeared in the documentaries The Presidents (2005), 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America (2006), America: The Story of Us (2010), The Men Who Built America (2012), The World Wars (2014), and The Eighties (2016). His writings have been published in several countries and translated into German, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.[6]
Bibliography
[edit]Brands has also co-authored various editions of various history textbooks, including America: Past and Present, and American Stories: A History of The United States.
References
[edit]- ^ "2001 Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
- ^ "2009 Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
Nominated Finalists are selected by the Nominating Juries for each category as finalists in the competition.
- ^ Muscolino, Joe (May 28, 2013). "Behind the Books with H.W. Brands, Author of The Man Who Saved the Union". Biographile. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ a b C-Span In Depth interview, July 3, 2005
- ^ a b "H.W. Brands Biography". BookBrowse. July 5, 2011.
- ^ H. W. Brands (August 16, 2012). "Hauenstein Lecture: The Cost of Greatness". Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
- ^ Brands, H.W. (September 2003). "Our reverence for the Fathers has gotten out of hand". Atlantic Monthly.
- ^ Walker, Tim (September 13, 2002). "The World as He Knows It: H.W. Brands' "The Age of Gold" is his 16th book in 15 years -- and he has only just begun". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ H. W. Brands (March 7, 2013). "Hauenstein Lecture: Persona of the Presidency". Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ Brands, H.W. (November 30, 2012). "Don't Dare to Be Great: The Paradoxes of Presidential History". SMU Center for Presidential History. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014.
- ^ Vognar, Chris (January 28, 2011). "Interview: H.W. Brands writes history for real people". Dallas News. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
- ^ "The Lionel Gelber Prize - 1999". The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in the University of Toronto. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ^ "Finalist: The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, by H.W. Brands (Doubleday)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ^ "Finalist: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by H.W. Brands (Doubleday)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved December 26, 2023.