Douglas Brinkley
Encyclopedia
Douglas Brinkley is an American
author
, professor
of history
at Rice University
and a fellow at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy. Brinkley is the history commentator for CBS News
and a contributing editor to the magazine Vanity Fair
. He joined the faculty of Rice University
as a professor of history in 2007.
. His parents were high school teachers. Raised in Perrysburg, Ohio
he earned his B.A. from Ohio State University
(1982), and his M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1989) from Georgetown University
in U.S. Diplomatic History. He has taught at Tulane University
, Princeton University
, the U.S. Naval Academy, has received an honorary doctorate for his contributions to American letters from Trinity College
in Hartford, Connecticut.
During the early 1990s, Brinkley taught American Arts and Politics out of Hofstra aboard the Majic Bus [sic], a roving transcontinental classroom, from which emerged the book, The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey (1993). In 1993, he left Hofstra to teach at the University of New Orleans
, where he taught the class again using two natural-gas fueled buses. According to the Associated Press
, "...if you can't tour the United States yourself, the next best thing is to go along with Douglas Brinkley aboard The Majic Bus."
Brinkley worked closely with his mentor, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, then director of the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans. Ambrose chose Brinkley to become director of the Eisenhower Center, a post he held for five years before moving to Tulane University
.
Ambrose called Brinkley "the best of the new generation of American historians." Brinkley and Ambrose wrote three books together: The Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (1997), Witness to History (1999), and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today (2002), a National Geographic Society
best-seller (published on the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson
's doubling the territory of the United States). Patrick Reardon from the Chicago Tribune
anointed Brinkley America's "new past master." In contrast in 2006, historian Wilfred McClay
in the New York Sun appraised Brinkley's scholarship as one that has failed to "put forward a single memorable idea, a single original analysis or a single lapidary phrase."
Six of his award-winning books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.
Brinkley’s first book was Jean Monnet: The Path to European Unity (1992). Former Undersecretary of State George Ball wrote a foreword. But it was the publication of Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years (1992) that brought Brinkley widespread acclaim. A board member of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, Brinkley then co-edited a monograph series with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
and William vanden Heuvel
in the 1990s. Brinkley also edited a volume on Dean Acheson and the Making of US Foreign Policy with Paul H. Nitze (1993).
Driven Patriot (1992), a biography of James Forrestal
, received the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Naval History Prize.
In 1998, Brinkley's comprehensive American Heritage History of the United States was published.
The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House (1999) is widely considered instrumental in the ex-president's winning of the Nobel Peace prize
.
Brinkley's epic Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and A Century of Progress (2003) won Business Week book of the year.
Brinkley was selected as the official biographer of Rosa Parks
.
Brinkley is the literary executor
for his late friend, the journalist Hunter S. Thompson
. He is the editor of a three-volume collection of Thompson's letters:
Brinkley is also the authorized biographer for Beat generation
author Jack Kerouac
, having edited Kerouac's diaries as Windblown World (2004).
He has also written profiles of Kurt Vonnegut
, Norman Mailer
, and Ken Kesey
for Rolling Stone
magazine. In 2009, Brinkley interviewed Bob Dylan
in Paris and Amsterdam for a Rolling Stone cover story.
In January 2004, Brinkley released Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, about U.S. Senator John Kerry
's military service and anti-war activism during the Vietnam War
. The 2004 documentary movie, "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry,"
is loosely based on Brinkley's book. Brinkley also wrote the Atlantic Monthly cover story of December 2003 on Kerry.
In January 2006, Brinkley and fellow historian Julie M. Fenster
released Parish Priest, a biography of Father Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus
.
In May 2006, Brinkley released The Great Deluge
: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a record of the effects of Hurricane Katrina
on the Gulf Coast. The book won the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was a Los Angeles Times
book prize finalist. He also served as the primary historian for Spike Lee
's documentary about Hurricane Katrina
, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
and If God is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise. Critic Nancy Franklin in The New Yorker
noted that Brinkley made up a "large part" of the film's "conscience."
Brinkley edited the New York Times best-selling The Reagan Diaries (2007).
Brinkley is the author of The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005), which rose to #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list
.
Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America was a bestseller
in 2009. It won the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award
(History/Biography category).
When Barack Obama
was elected the 44th president of the United States
Brinkley was asked, along with Tom Brokaw
and U.S. Representative John Lewis, to write an essay for the Official Inaugural Book. He was also invited to the White House
in the summer of 2009 and 2010 to discuss history with the president in a wide-ranging conversation on everything from foreign policy to conservation.
Congressional Hearing Argument
On November 18, 2011, Young got into an argument during a Congressional hearing with Brinkley, over the idea of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Reports say that during Brinkley’s testimony Young was not present in the room, yet still continued to respond to the speech Brinkley had made. Young not only referred to Brinkley’s argument as “garbage”, but also addressed Brinkley as “Dr. Rice.” When Dr. Brinkley tried to correct him, he was threatened with removal from the hearing. Young did shout at the Rice University history professor to demand “I’ll say anything I want to say! You just be quiet!”.
. He and his wife Anne have three children, Johnny, Benton, and Cassady. He is a member of the Century Club and the Council on Foreign Relations
. A frequent guest lecturer at colleges and corporate events, he is represented by the Washington Speaker's Bureau.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
and a fellow at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy. Brinkley is the history commentator for CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
and a contributing editor to the magazine Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. He joined the faculty of Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
as a professor of history in 2007.
Early life, education, and career
Brinkley was born in Atlanta, GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. His parents were high school teachers. Raised in Perrysburg, Ohio
Perrysburg, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,945 people, 6,592 households, and 4,561 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,899.2 people per square mile . There were 6,964 housing units at an average density of 780.5 per square mile...
he earned his B.A. from Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
(1982), and his M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1989) from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in U.S. Diplomatic History. He has taught at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, the U.S. Naval Academy, has received an honorary doctorate for his contributions to American letters from Trinity College
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
in Hartford, Connecticut.
During the early 1990s, Brinkley taught American Arts and Politics out of Hofstra aboard the Majic Bus [sic], a roving transcontinental classroom, from which emerged the book, The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey (1993). In 1993, he left Hofstra to teach at the University of New Orleans
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...
, where he taught the class again using two natural-gas fueled buses. According to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, "...if you can't tour the United States yourself, the next best thing is to go along with Douglas Brinkley aboard The Majic Bus."
Brinkley worked closely with his mentor, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, then director of the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans. Ambrose chose Brinkley to become director of the Eisenhower Center, a post he held for five years before moving to Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
.
Works and accolades
Brinkley is a prolific and acclaimed historian, writer, and editor.Ambrose called Brinkley "the best of the new generation of American historians." Brinkley and Ambrose wrote three books together: The Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (1997), Witness to History (1999), and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today (2002), a National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
best-seller (published on the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's doubling the territory of the United States). Patrick Reardon from the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
anointed Brinkley America's "new past master." In contrast in 2006, historian Wilfred McClay
Wilfred M. McClay
Wilfred M. McClay is an American historian, a noted conservative public intellectual, and SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga....
in the New York Sun appraised Brinkley's scholarship as one that has failed to "put forward a single memorable idea, a single original analysis or a single lapidary phrase."
Six of his award-winning books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.
Brinkley’s first book was Jean Monnet: The Path to European Unity (1992). Former Undersecretary of State George Ball wrote a foreword. But it was the publication of Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years (1992) that brought Brinkley widespread acclaim. A board member of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, Brinkley then co-edited a monograph series with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. was an American historian and social critic whose work explored the American liberalism of political leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian"...
and William vanden Heuvel
William vanden Heuvel
William Jacobus vanden Heuvel is an attorney, businessman and author, as well as a former diplomat.He is the father of Katrina vanden Heuvel, longtime editor of The Nation magazine, and Wendy vanden Heuvel, children from his marriage to author/editor Jean Stein, the well-to-do daughter of Jules C...
in the 1990s. Brinkley also edited a volume on Dean Acheson and the Making of US Foreign Policy with Paul H. Nitze (1993).
Driven Patriot (1992), a biography of James Forrestal
James Forrestal
James Vincent Forrestal was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense....
, received the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Naval History Prize.
In 1998, Brinkley's comprehensive American Heritage History of the United States was published.
The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House (1999) is widely considered instrumental in the ex-president's winning of the Nobel Peace prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
.
Brinkley's epic Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and A Century of Progress (2003) won Business Week book of the year.
Brinkley was selected as the official biographer of Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
.
Brinkley is the literary executor
Literary executor
A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...
for his late friend, the journalist Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
. He is the editor of a three-volume collection of Thompson's letters:
- Volume 1: The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967. Published April 7, 1998.
- Volume 2: Fear And Loathing In America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist. Published December 13, 2000.
- Volume 3: The Mutineer: Rants, Ravings, and Missives from the Mountaintop, 1977-2005. Scheduled for 2012.
Brinkley is also the authorized biographer for Beat generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
author Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, having edited Kerouac's diaries as Windblown World (2004).
He has also written profiles of Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, and Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine. In 2009, Brinkley interviewed Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
in Paris and Amsterdam for a Rolling Stone cover story.
In January 2004, Brinkley released Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, about U.S. Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's military service and anti-war activism during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The 2004 documentary movie, "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry,"
Going Upriver
Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry is a documentary film on U.S. Senator John Kerry's military service during the Vietnam War and his subsequent participation in the peace movement...
is loosely based on Brinkley's book. Brinkley also wrote the Atlantic Monthly cover story of December 2003 on Kerry.
In January 2006, Brinkley and fellow historian Julie M. Fenster
Julie M. Fenster
Julie M. Fenster is an American author of historical articles and books focusing on nineteenth century events and personages.She stars in a TV commercial for Cheapbooks which will be airing in early 2008...
released Parish Priest, a biography of Father Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
.
In May 2006, Brinkley released The Great Deluge
The Great Deluge
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a 2006 book by Professor Douglas Brinkley of Tulane University about the effect of Hurricane Katrina which devastated the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana in 2005. It covers the personal stories of heroism...
: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a record of the effects of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
on the Gulf Coast. The book won the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was a Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
book prize finalist. He also served as the primary historian for Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's documentary about Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
When the Levees Broke
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana due to the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on...
and If God is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise. Critic Nancy Franklin in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
noted that Brinkley made up a "large part" of the film's "conscience."
Brinkley edited the New York Times best-selling The Reagan Diaries (2007).
Brinkley is the author of The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005), which rose to #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
.
Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America was a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
in 2009. It won the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award
National Outdoor Book Award
The National Outdoor Book Award was formed in 1997 as a US-based non-profit program which each year honors the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watters. Awards are presented in ten categories. The award is announced in early November...
(History/Biography category).
When Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
was elected the 44th president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Brinkley was asked, along with Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...
and U.S. Representative John Lewis, to write an essay for the Official Inaugural Book. He was also invited to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in the summer of 2009 and 2010 to discuss history with the president in a wide-ranging conversation on everything from foreign policy to conservation.
Congressional Hearing Argument
On November 18, 2011, Young got into an argument during a Congressional hearing with Brinkley, over the idea of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Reports say that during Brinkley’s testimony Young was not present in the room, yet still continued to respond to the speech Brinkley had made. Young not only referred to Brinkley’s argument as “garbage”, but also addressed Brinkley as “Dr. Rice.” When Dr. Brinkley tried to correct him, he was threatened with removal from the hearing. Young did shout at the Rice University history professor to demand “I’ll say anything I want to say! You just be quiet!”.
Personal life
Brinkley lives in Austin, TexasAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. He and his wife Anne have three children, Johnny, Benton, and Cassady. He is a member of the Century Club and the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. A frequent guest lecturer at colleges and corporate events, he is represented by the Washington Speaker's Bureau.
Selected publications
- Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal (1992). With Townsend Hoopes
- Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-71 (1992)
- The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey (1993)
- The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (1997) ed.
- Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (1997)
- FDR and the Creation of the U.N. (1997) With Townsend Hoopes
- American Heritage History of the United States (1998)
- The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House (1999)
- Witness to America (1999) With Stephen Ambrose
- Fear and Loathing in America: the Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976 (2000) ed.
- Rosa Parks (2000)
- The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today (2002) With Stephen Ambrose
- Wheels for the World : Henry Ford, His Company, and A Century of Progress, 1903-2003 (2003)
- Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (2004)
- Voices of Valor : D-Day, June 6, 1944 (2004) With Ronald J. Dretz
- Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac, 1947-1954 (2004) ed.
- The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers (2004)
- The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion (2005)
- Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism (2006) With Julie M. Fenster
- The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2006)
- The Reagan Diaries (2007) ed.
- Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007) ed.
- Gerald R. Ford (2007)
- The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (2009)
- The Quiet World: Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960 (2011)