I am a professor of history and the project director of the Papers of Martin Van Buren.

My primary research focus is on the Early Republic and Civil War periods (roughly 1815 to 1877). I am the author or editor of eight books, including the award-winning Andrew Jackson, Southerner and The Coming of Democracy: Presidential Campaigning in the Age of Jackson. My current research project is on the 1844 presidential election. 

Besides writing for traditional academic audiences, I have contributed my expertise to a number of media outlets, including the Washington Post, C-SPAN, NBC News, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CTV News, the Associated Press, Voice of America, the Nashville Tennessean, and History News Network

Although I post infrequently now, my blog generally focuses on the Early Republic period, defined by the Society for Historians of the Early Republic (SHEAR) as encompassing the years 1776-1861. Most of the posts center on Andrew Jackson and Jacksonian politics, but they also address other topics, including teaching, writing, the Civil War, southern history, and the history of conspiracy theories.

Disclaimer: This website is not sponsored or hosted by my university, and the opinions and views I express in the postings and comments are solely my own.