Benjamin Breen (born 1985) is an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

and an Associate Professor of History at

the University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the e ...

. His book ''The Age of Intoxication'' (2019) was awarded the 2021 William H. Welch Medal from the

American Association for the History of Medicine The American Association for the History of Medicine is an American professional association dedicated to the study of medical history. Background It is the largest society dedicated to medical history in the United States, and the oldest such org ...

. His second book, ''Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science'', delves into the history of psychedelic science from the 1930s through the 1970s and has garnered critical acclaim. Publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Publishers Weekly have all provided favorable reviews. In addition, Breen's insights have reached a wider audience through his appearance on NPR's Fresh Air in an interview with Terry Gross.

Education and early career

Breen received his Ph.D. in history from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 2015. His doctoral advisor was Jorge Canizares-Esguerra.

Research and writing

Breen’s work centers on the history of globalization and the long-term impacts of technological and environmental change. He has written on early modern globalization; the

Portuguese empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

; Atlantic history; the early modern drug trade; the history of

psychedelics Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science ...

; and the eighteenth-century impostor George Psalmanazar. Between 2015 and 2017 Breen was a member of the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

and a lecturer in Columbia's Department of History. His writing has appeared in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...

'', ''

Aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timel ...

'', ''

The Public Domain Review ''The Public Domain Review'' is an online journal showcasing works which have entered the public domain. It was co-founded by Jonathan Gray and Adam Green. It was launched on January 1, 2011 to coincide with Public Domain Day. The ''Review'' ai ...

'', ''

Lapham’s Quarterly ''Lapham's Quarterly'' is a literary magazine established in 2007 by former ''Harper's Magazine'' editor Lewis H. Lapham. Each issue examines a theme using primary source material from history. The inaugural issue "States of War" contained dozens ...

'', and ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' and been discussed in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'',''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'',

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

, and ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

''. He was a co-founder and editor of ''

The Appendix ''The Appendix'' was an online magazine of "narrative and experimental history." It was co-founded in the fall of 2012 by Benjamin Breen, Felipe Cruz, Christopher Heaney, and Brian Jones. A stated goal of the journal is that "scholarly and popul ...

'' and writes the history blog Res Obscura and substack.

Fellowships and awards

* 2021 The William H. Welch Medal of the

* 2021

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Award for Faculty. * 2014-15

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

visiting fellow of

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, t ...

. * 2011-12

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Fellowship (Portugal).

Books

* ''The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). * ''Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science'' (Grand Central Publishing, 2024).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breen, Benjamin Living people 1985 births University of Texas alumni American historians University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Writers about globalization