Roger Boesche (January 24, 1948 – May 23, 2017) was an American political theorist. He was the Arthur G. Coons Distinguished Professor of the

History of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual his ...

at Occidental College.

Early life

Roger Boesche was born on January 24, 1948 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from Stanford University, where he earned a PhD in political science.

Career

Boesche taught American and European political thought at Occidental College from 1977 to 2017. He was promoted to an endowed chair: the Arthur G. Coons Distinguished Professor of the History of Ideas. One of his students was President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. He served as the president of Occidental College's faculty council from 1990 to 1992, and he won the Loftsgordon Award, the Graham L. Sterling Memorial Award, and the Linda and Todd White Teaching Prize. Boesche also played a role in Occidental College's

disinvestment from South Africa Disinvestment (or divestment) from South Africa was first advocated in the 1960s, in protest against South Africa's system of apartheid, but was not implemented on a significant scale until the mid-1980s. The disinvestment campaign, after bein ...

. Boesche was the author of several books, three of which were about

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his wor ...

Personal life

Boesche met his future wife, Mandy, at a Vietnam War protest. She later taught at The Waverly School and Westridge School. They resided in

Eagle Rock, Los Angeles Eagle Rock is a neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles, abutting the San Rafael Hills in Los Angeles County, California. Eagle Rock is named after Eagle Rock (geographic point), Eagle Rock, a large boulder whose shadow resembles an eagle.http://ww ...

, and they had a daughter, Kelsey, who became an opera singer.

Death

Boesche died on May 23, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

Works

*''Alexis de Tocqueville: Selected Letters on Politics and Society'' (1985) *''The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville'' (1987) *''Theories of Tyranny: From Plato to Arendt'' (1996) *''The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra'' (2002) *''Tocqueville's Road Map: Methodology, Liberalism, Revolution, and Despotism'' (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boesche, Roger 1948 births 2017 deaths Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Stanford University alumni Occidental College faculty American political philosophers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers