Profile

I have long been interested in the history of American social policy.  Those interests led me to focus on two principal subjects that I teach and write about:  (1) the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction (perhaps the most tumultuous era of radical social change in our history) and (2) the social history of medicine and health in the US (since medical professionals have been influential drivers of social policy).  I have testified twice before the United States Senate as an expert witness on the history of social policies.  I also teach courses on the historical roots of American identity and on nineteenth-century legal and political developments.