Thomas Elliott Skidmore (July 22, 1932, in Troy, Ohio – June 11, 2016) was 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 species; as well as the ...

and scholar who specialized in Brazilian history.Thomas Skidmore (1932-2016): A Tribute
Latin America Centre. University of Oxford.

Biography

Skidmore graduated in political science and philosophy in 1954 from Denison University. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

where he met his wife Felicity. He received a second B.A. in

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

in 1956 and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1959. He obtained his Ph.D. at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1960 with a thesis on the German Chancellor

Leo von Caprivi Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprara de Montecuccoli (English language, English: ''Count George Leo of Caprivi, Caprara, and Montecuccoli''; born Georg Leo von Caprivi; 24 February 1831 – 6 February 1899) was a German general and statesman. He ...

. His attention shifted to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

after the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. His Harvard post-doctorate focused on Brazil. In 1967 he published ''Politics in Brazil: 1930-64, An Experiment in Democracy''. He began his teaching career at Harvard as an instructor (1960-61), research fellow in Latin American studies (1961-64), and then assistant professor (1964-66)."Skidmore, Thomas Elliott," in ''Historians of Latin America in the United States, 1965: Biobibliographies of 680 Specialists''. Ed. Howard F. Cline. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1966, 83. In 1966, Skidmore joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He became a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

in 1968. In 1986, Skidmore moved to

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Selected bibliography

* ''Politics in Brazil 1930–1964: An Experiment in Democracy'' (Oxford University Press, 1967) * ''Black Into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought'' (Oxford University Press, 1974) * ''Modern Latin America'', with Peter H. Smith and James N. Green (Oxford University Press, multiple editions, 1984–2014) * ''The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil: 1964–1985'' (1988) * ''Television, Politics, and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, ed.) * “Bi-Racial U.S.A. vs Multi-Racial Brazil: Is the Contrast Still Valid?,” ''Journal of Latin American Studies'' 25, no. 2 (1993): 373-385 * ''Brazil: Five Centuries of Change'' (Oxford University Press, 1999)

References

1932 births 2016 deaths Brazilianists Harvard University alumni Denison University alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Brown University faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty People from Troy, Ohio Historians from Ohio {{US-historian-stub