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I received my PhD in American Studies from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom in 2001. Having taught in the United Kingdom and the United States, I joined Laurier in 2004.
I teach widely in the field of American history, but have a particular interest in the history of the United States since the end of the Second World War.
My research focuses on radical political and social movements in the United States including the John Birch Society, the militia movement, white supremacist groups, the Black Panther Party and the Weather Underground. Drawing on intellectual and cultural history, I am especially interested in the intersections between radical politics and mainstream American culture and politics. I am currently working on a book-length study called “The Culture of American Extremism.”
- Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003.
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Winner, Choice “Outstanding Academic Title (2018)” for Enemies of the State: The Radical Right in America from FDR to Trump.
I am willing to supervise graduate students interested in post-1945 U.S. history, especially in the areas of political radicalism, extremism, social movements, film and popular culture.
- Years of Rage: White Supremacy in the United States from the Klan to the Alt-Right (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). [paperback 2024]
- Enemies of the State: The Radical Right in America from FDR to Trump (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). [revised paperback edition 2020]
- The World of the John Birch Society: Conspiracy, Conservatism and the Cold War (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2014).
- 'The New Black Panther Party, Black Nationalism and the Tangled Legacy of COINTELPRO,' in Extremism in America, ed. George Michael (Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2014): 70-113.
- 'Is There a "Field"? And if There Isn't, Should We be Worried About It?' in 'Roundtable: Terrorism and the American Experience: A State of the Field,' Journal of American History 98, 1 (June 2011): 111-114.
- 'New Panthers, Old Panthers and the Politics of Black Nationalism in the United States,' with George Michael, Patterns of Prejudice 44, 3 (2010): 217-238.
- American Extremism: History Politics and the Militia Movement (London: Routledge, 2004; [e-book, 2008]).
- 'Conversing with the Dead: The Militia Movement and American History,' Journal of American Studies 38 (2004): 439-456.
HI114, "Problems in U.S. History."
HI260, "History on Film."
HI387, "American Protest Music."
HI332, "U.S. Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century."
HI406, "Seminar on Modern America."
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 4-155
Office hours:
Fall 2024
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am—11am, or by appointment
Languages spoken: English