Keith Michael Baker (born 7 August 1938) is a British-born historian. Baker received his bachelor's and master's degrees at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, and completed a doctorate at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He began his academic career in the United States as a history instructor at

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

and joined the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

faculty in 1965. While at Chicago, Baker was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

in 1978. He left Chicago for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

in 1988, the same year the government of France named him a Knight of the

Order of Academic Palms Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

. Baker was elected to membership of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

and

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1991 and 1997 respectively. He served as president of the

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) is an academic society for humanities research related to the "long" eighteenth century, from the later seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries. ASECS was established in 1969, ...

in 2000. At Stanford, Baker has held the J. E. Wallace Sterling Professorship in the Humanities as well as the Anthony P. Meier Family Professorship in the Humanities. He was one of three recipients of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

's 2014 Award for Scholarly Distinction. Baker was co-editor of ''

The Journal of Modern History ''The Journal of Modern History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering European intellectual, political, and cultural history, published by the University of Chicago Press. Established in 1929, the journal covers events from app ...

'' between 1980 and 1989, and has served on the editorial boards of ''

History of European Ideas ''History of European Ideas'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the intellectual history of Europe from the Renaissance onwards. It was established in 1980 and is published by Routledge. The editor-in-chief is Richard Whatmore (Uni ...

'' (2007–2012), ''

French Historical Studies ''French Historical Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering French history. It publishes articles in English and French. The journal is published by Duke University Press on behalf of the Society for French Historical Stu ...

'' (1976–1979), and ''

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

'' (1979–1980).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Keith Michael 1938 births Living people 20th-century British historians 21st-century British historians 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British writers 21st-century British male writers British expatriate academics in the United States Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Alumni of University College London University of Chicago faculty Academic journal editors Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Members of the American Philosophical Society Stanford University Department of History faculty