Brooks D. Simpson
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Brooks Donohue Simpson (born August 4, 1957) is an American historian and an ASU Foundation Professor of
History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, specializing in American political and military history, especially the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
and
Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
s and the American presidency.


Early life and education

Simpson was born in 1957 in
Freeport, New York Freeport is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the town of Hempstead, New York, Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), ...
. He grew up in Seaford, New York, and Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Educated at the
Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...
, he graduated in 1975; four years later he graduated from the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
. Receiving his M.A. in history at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
in 1982, he earned his PhD in 1989.


Career

After working three years as an assistant editor for ''The Papers of
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
'', based at the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
, Simpson joined the faculty at
Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1854, it is one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the American Civil War that still ope ...
in
Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...
, in 1987. Three years later, in 1990, he migrated west to
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, where he presently teaches. Currently he divides his time between Barrett, The Honors College at ASU and the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. Simpson is the author of seven books, the coauthor of two more, and the editor or coeditor of eight other books. He is perhaps best known for his work on
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
, including ''Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868'' (1991), and ''Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865'' (2000). The latter was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book and a ''Choice'' Outstanding Academic Title for 2000. He has appeared several times on
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
, as well as on PBS's ''
American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
''. In 2009 the U.S. State Department asked him to travel to Turkey for two weeks to lecture on Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama in historical context.


Blogging

After serving four years as one of the contributors to the prize-winning "Civil Warriors" blog, in late 2010, Simpson started his own blog, "Crossroads", where he discusses the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
and offers critiques of negationist neo-Confederate and Lost Cause claims regarding the war.


Personal life

Simpson is descended from Richard Denton, a reverend from Yorkshire, England.


Honors and awards

* NEH Travel to Collections Award, 1990; * Huntington Library Fellow, 1991; * Newberry Library Fellow, 1991; * American Philosophical Society Grant, 1991; * Dirksen Congressional Research Center Grant, 1991; * Father Smith Lecturer, Gonzaga University, 1994; * American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, 1994; * Fulbright Scholarship, Leiden University, 1995; * Interdisciplinary Fellow, ASU, 1998; * ASU Alumni Faculty Research Award, 2003.


Bibliography

*''Advice After Appomattox: Letters to Andrew Johnson, 1865-1866''. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987. With LeRoy P. Graf and John Muldowny. *''Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868''. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...
, 1991. Paperback edition, 1997. *''The Political Education of Henry Adams''. Columbia:
University of South Carolina Press The University of South Carolina Press is an Academic publishing, academic publisher associated with the University of South Carolina. It was founded in 1944. According to Casey Clabough, the quality of its list of authors and book design became s ...
, 1996. *''America's Civil War''. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1996. *''Union and Emancipation: Essays on Race and Politics in the Civil War Era''. Kent:
Kent State University Press Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia ...
, 1997. With David W. Blight. *''Think Anew, Act Anew: Abraham Lincoln on Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction''. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1998. *''The Reconstruction Presidents''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. Paperback edition, 2009. *''Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865''. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...
, 1999. With Jean V. Berlin. *''Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide''. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press (UNP) was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the University of Ne ...
, 1999. With Mark Grimsley. *''Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865''. Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...
, 2000. *''Collapse of the Confederacy''. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, 2001. Paperback edition, 2002. With Mark Grimsley. *''The Civil War: The First Year in the Words of Those Who Lived It''. New York:
Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...
, 2011. With Stephen W. Sears and Aaron Sheehan-Dean. *''The Civil War in the East: Struggle, Stalemate, and Victory''. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2011. *''Victors in Blue: How Union Generals Fought the Confederates, Battled Each Other, and Won the Civil War''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011. With Albert Castel. *''The Civil War: The Third Year in the Words of Those Who Lived It''. New York: Library of America, 2013. *''Reconstruction: Voices from America's First Great Struggle for Racial Equality''. New York: Library of America, 2018. *''An Illustrated History of the Civil War: The Conflict that Defined the United States''. London: Arcturus, 2021.


See also

* William C. Davis * James M. McPherson


References


External links


Crossroads Blog
currently edited by Brooks Simpson. *
Barrett, The Honors College at ASU.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Brooks D. 1957 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians of the American Civil War Historians of the United States Living people Phillips Exeter Academy alumni University of Virginia alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni University of Tennessee faculty Wofford College faculty Arizona State University faculty American people of English descent American male non-fiction writers