Timothy H. Breen (born September 5, 1942 in

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

) is currently the William Smith Mason Professor of American History Emeritus at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and a James Marsh Professor at Large at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the Unite ...

. He is the founding director of the Kaplan Humanities Center and the Nicholas D. Chabraja Center for Historical Studies at Northwestern. Breen is a specialist on the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. He studies the history of early America with a special interest in political thought, material culture, and cultural anthropology. Breen has published multiple books and over 60 articles. In 2010 he released his latest book, ''American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People''. Breen won the Colonial War Society Prize for the best book on the American Revolution for ''Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence'' (2004), the T. Saloutus Prize for agricultural history for his book ''Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters of the Eve of Revolution'', and the Historical Preservation Book Prize for his work ''Imagining the Past: East Hampton Histories'', and several prizes for "George Washington's Journey: The President Forges a New Nation." Breen also holds awards for distinguished teaching from Northwestern. Breen received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D in history from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

. He also holds an honorary M.A. from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. In addition to the appointment at

, he has taught at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(as the

Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions The Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions was established at the University of Cambridge on 5 February 1944 from a sum of £44,000 received from the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press in 1943 and augmented by a further £5,0 ...

), at Oxford University (as the

Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History The Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professorship is an endowed chair in American history at the University of Oxford, tenable for one year. The Harmsworth Professorship was established by Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–194 ...

) (2000-2001), and at 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 ...

, Yale University, and

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. He is an honorary fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at

. He has been the recipient of 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 ...

, and has also enjoyed research support from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, Center for Advanced Study, the

Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resea ...

, the

National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any university or federal agency. The center was planned under the ausp ...

, the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pit ...

, the

Munich Center for Advanced Study Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, the Historisches Kolleg (Munich), and the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

. He is a member of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

and the

Society of American Historians The Society of American Historians, founded in 1939, encourages and honors literary distinction in the writing of history and biography about American topics. The approximately 300 members include professional historians, independent scholars, jou ...

. An essay he published on the end of slavery in Massachusetts became the basis for the full-length opera "Slip-Knot" that was produced in Chicago.oieahc.wm.edu
/ref> Breen is an alumnus of the Rachel Carson Center for Environmental History (Munich). He has written for the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

'', the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College at the First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his gro ...

'', the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review o ...

''. Breen currently lives in

Greensboro, Vermont Greensboro is the southernmost town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 811 at the 2020 census. The town includes the places of Campbells Corners, East Greensboro, Gebbie Corner, Greensboro Four Corners, Greensboro ...

, where he is currently completing a book entitled "The Farmer and the Aristocrat: American Revolution on Trial." He is married to Susan, and has two children, Sarah and Bant, and three grandchildren.

Published works

Books

*2019 The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America *2015 George Washington's Journey: The President Forges a New Nation *2010
American Insurgents – American Patriots: The Revolution of the People
*2005
The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence
*2003
Colonial America in an Atlantic World: A Story of Creative Interaction
with Timothy D. Hall *1989
Imagining The Past: East Hampton Histories
*1985
Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution
*1982
"Myne Owne Ground": Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676
with Stephen Innes *1980
Puritans and Adventurers: Change and Persistence in Early America
*1970
The Character of the Good Ruler: A Study of Political Ideas in New England, 1630-1730

Textbooks

*2010
America Past and Present
currently in 9th edition (1st ed. published 1984), with George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, Bill Brands, Ariela Gross, and Robert A. Divine.

Articles

*2010
Whose Revolution is this?
''Washington Post'' *2010

''The Daily Beast''

References

External links

Breen's CVT. H. Breen Amazon author pageT. H. Breen Goodreads pageT. H. Breen
at th
Chicago Tribune Printer's Row Lit FestA Revolution from Below, The Wall Street Journal, 21 May 2010Chabraja Center for Historical Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breen, T. H. 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Northwestern University faculty Academics of the University of Cambridge Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History Living people Taft School alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 1942 births American male non-fiction writers