Author, historian Douglas Brinkley to join Rice faculty

CONTACT:Franz Brotzen
OFFICE: 713-348-6775
CELL: 832-298-7701
E-MAIL: franz.brotzen@rice.edu

The historian and best-selling author Douglas Brinkley will come to Rice University as a professor of history and a fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy July 1.

He will teach two undergraduate courses and one graduate seminar. “I had offers from a lot of schools,” Brinkley said. “But Rice was the best fit for me, personally and professionally. My family and I wanted to stay in the Gulf South region. I’ll continue spending a lot of time in New Orleans, where we have family, but Texas will be my primary home.”

Most recently, Brinkley served as director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization and Professor of History at Tulane University.

Brinkley, who is also the official historian for CBS News, has won the prestigious 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” The award will be given at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 23, from 6-8 p.m. at the Jack Morton Auditorium. RFK Book Award judge Gwen Ifill of PBS praised “The Great Deluge,” noting “With the detail of a great historian, and the urgency of a survivor, [Brinkley] chronicles the drowning of a great American city in a manner designed to ensure that mistakes are not forgotten.”

Brinkley’s 761-page study of the Katrina disaster was also chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2006, New York Public Library Book of the Year and was a Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. “It’s a classic,” the late historian Arthur M. Schlesinger said. “Nobody else could have written such an elegant, sad and inspiring book in such a short time.”

Brinkley has been in the news lately for editing the private White House diaries of Ronald Reagan. The book will be profiled on the CBS Evening News tomorrow. Publication is set for May 23. HarperCollins plans a first printing of 350,000 books.

He is currently working on “Cowboy Conservationist: Theodore Roosevelt and the Wilderness.”

Brinkley is best known as the author of four biographies, “Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years” (1992), “Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal,” with Townsend Hoopes (1992), “The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House” (1998), and “Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company and a Century of Progress” (2003), as well as the best-selling histories, “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc; Ronald Reagan, D-Day and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion” (2005), “Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War” (2004) and “Parish Priest: Father McGivney and American Catholicism” (2006).

“Douglas Brinkley has established a prominent place among contemporary historians, especially through his prolific writings aimed to broad audiences,” said Rice University Provost Eugene Levy. “His work on contemporary American history and politics resonates across a broad spectrum of public interest, and his interpretive commentaries in the broadcast media are informative and widely watched. We are delighted to have Doug join us as a member of the history department and as a fellow of the Baker Institute of
Public Policy.”

Besides teaching three classes this fall, Brinkley has been asked by former U.S. Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher to be part of a commission studying Presidential War Powers. “We’ll be meeting in Washington soon,” Brinkley said about the study group. “My task is to analyze how presidents like Polk, McKinley, Wilson, FDR, Truman and Johnson, among others, dealt with the Congress during wartime.”

Brinkley will split his duties between the history department and the Baker Institute.

Edward Djerejian, the founding director of the Baker Institute, said, “Douglas Brinkley is one of a handful of historians who command a national audience and whose views on public policy are widely sought after. As an authority on the presidency, he will be able to contribute to the work of the Baker Institute in important ways. He has also agreed to write public policy papers for the Institute as part of his tenure as a Baker Institute fellow.  We are very pleased he is joining us.” 

“Douglas Brinkley has raised the visibility of historical writing in the mind of the public, building bridges between the university and the general public,” said Gary Wihl, the dean of humanities and the Frances Moody Newman professor of humanities. “His joint appointment between the Department of History and the Baker Institute provides the optimal opportunity to draw upon his abilities.  His appointment at Rice opens up new possibilities for collaboration between the Baker Institute and the School of Humanities.”

Members of the news media who want more information should send inquiries to Franz Brotzen at franz.brotzen@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.