Texas State University-San Marcos VITA

James E. McWilliams, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History

Curriculum Vitae

Texas State University—San Marcos VITA

James Edward McWilliams, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History

I. ACADEMIC/PROFESSIONAL

Education:
Ph.D. (2001) The Johns Hopkins University, in History—Dissertation: From the Ground Up: Economic Development and the Rise of an Internal Economy in the Massachusetts Bay Region, 1630-1700

M.A. (1996) The University of Texas at Austin, in American Studies

M.Ed. (1994) Harvard University

B.A. (1991) Georgetown University, in Philosophy

Experience:
Assistant Professor of History, Texas State University, 2003-present.
Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Southwest Texas State University, 2000-2003.

Teaching Honors and Awards:

Honors Program (SWT) Honors Advisor of the Year, 2001-2002

University Honors Professor of the Year Award, Texas State University (2004)

Courses Taught:

History 1310—History of the United States before 1877

History 1320—History of the United States, 1877 to present

History 3365—The Early American Republic

History 3363—Early American History to 1763

History 4365—Early American History: The Revolutionary Period, 1763-1789

History 5313—Graduate Seminar in Colonial British America

Honors 1390—The Evolution of American Culture, 1607-1850

II. SCHOLARLY/CREATIVE

Books:
*A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America (Columbia University Press, 2005)
*Puritan Pioneers: Economy and Society in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (forthcoming, University of Virginia Press, forthcoming)

*Great Trees of the American Northeast, co-authored with David Cohn. (forthcoming, BlueBridge Press, 2006)

Chapters in Books:
*“The Quest for Markets: Economic Adaptation and the End of Declension in the Massachusetts Bay Region, 1630-1700,” in Alan Tully and Robert Olwell (eds.), Cultures and Identities in Colonial British America (in press, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005)

*indicates that publication/contract occurred while I was at Texas State

Academic Articles:

*”African Americans, Native Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” The Texas Journal of History and Genealogy. Volume 4 (2005).

* “ ‘how unripe we are’: An Intellectual Construction of American Food,” Food, Society, and Culture (Fall, 2005)

*"'To Forward Well-Flavored Productions': The Kitchen Garden in Early New England." The New England Quarterly (March 2004), p. 25-50

*“Integrating Primary and Secondary Sources,” Teaching History (in press, Spring 2004)

*“The Transition from Capitalism and the Consolidation of Authority in the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1607-1760: An Interpretive Model,” Maryland Historical Magazine (Summer 2002), p. 135-152
*“New England’s First Depression: An Export-Led Interpretation,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (Summer 2002), p. 1-20
*“Work, Family, and Economic Improvement in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts Bay,” The New England Quarterly (September 2001), p. 355-384. Winner of the 2000 Whitehill Prize in Colonial History.
“Brewing Beer in Massachusetts Bay, 1640-1690.” The New England Quarterly (December 1998), p. 353-384

Academic Reviews:
A review of Dining at the Governor’s Mansion, by Carl McQueary. Southwestern Historical Quarterly (January 2004)

*A review of Farm, Shop, Landing: The Rise of a Market Society in the Hudson Valley, 1780-1860 by Martin Bruegel. History and Technology (forthcoming)
*A review of Donald Barthelme: The Genesis of a Cool Sound by Helen Barthelme. Southwestern American Literature (Fall 2002)
*A review of Masters, Slaves, and Subjects: The Culture of Power in the South Carolina Low Country, 1740-1790, by Robert Olwell. Maryland Historical Magazine (Fall 2000)
A review of Marriage in the Early Republic: Elizabeth and William Wirt and the Companionate Ideal, by Anya Jabour. Maryland Historical Magazine (Summer 1999)

*A review of Nature’s State, by Susan Kollin. The Texas Observer (March 13, 2002)

*A review of American Childhoods, by Joseph Illick. The Texas Observer (June 21, 2002)
*A review of Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers by Robert M. Utley. Publisher’s Weekly (June 3, 2002)

Selected Popular and Creative Writing:

*”Slow Food and a Bit of Gardening: One Way to Stop the Bulge,” The Christian Science Monitor (September 23, 2004)

*”The Narrow Halls of Academe,” The Washington Post (August 25, 2004)

* “Consumers Share the Blame for Culinary Perils,” USA Today (March 8, 2004)

*“Was the Conviction of an 18-Year Old Black Man for Rape Racist?,” The History News Network (February 16, 2004)

*A review of Lone Star State, by H.W. Brands. The Austin-American Statesman (February 7, 2004)

*“Just Another Leftist Loon,” The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 8, 2004)

*“Plain Old Cowboy’s Winning Ways,” op-ed, The Los Angeles Times (November 26, 2003)

*“Pinch Me: I’m a Full Time Historian,” The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 19, 2003)

*”The Golden Age of Obligation,” The Texas Observer (December 5, 2003)

*A review of The Innocents, by Taryn Simon. The Texas Observer (November 7, 2003)

*A review of Big Lies: The Right Wing Propaganda Machine and How it Disturbs the Truth by Joe Conoson. The Texas Observer (September 26, 2003)

*A review of Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto: The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest, by Peter Pringle. The Texas Observer (August 29, 2003)

*A review of Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, by Bill McKibbon. The Texas Observer (August 1, 2003)

*A review of I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks, by Steve McVicker. The Texas Observer (July 4, 2003)

*Interview of Patti Smith and a review of Strange Messenger: The Work of Patti Smith at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas. The Texas Observer (April 25, 2003)

*A review of Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, by Eric Schlosser. The Texas Observer (May 23, 2003)

* “Diary of a Lapsed Catholic,” The Texas Observer (March 14, 2003)

*A review of I Want That!: How We All Became Shoppers, A Cultural History, by Thomas Hine. The Texas Observer (January 17, 2003)

*A review of Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, by Peter Lovenheim. The Texas Observer (December 20, 2002)

*“History 101: Ignorance as Power: Do You Know Who’s Vetting Your Children’s Textbooks?,” The Texas Observer (August 30, 2002)
*A review of The Age of Gold, by H.W. Brands. The Austin-American Statesman (August 18, 2002)

*A review of Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism, by Lillian Ross. The Austin-American Statesman (July 27, 2002)
*A review of Rio Ganges, by David Theis. The Austin Chronicle (July 17, 2002)
*“Digging at Grave for Real Answers,” San Antonio Express-News (June 23, 2002)
*A review of American Childhoods, by Joseph Illick. The Texas Observer (June 21, 2002)
*A review of Lone Patriot by Jane Kramer. The Austin-American Statesman (June 16, 2002)
*A review of The Treatment: The Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests, by Martha Stephens. The Texas Observer, May 24, 2002, p. 20-21.
*“Devil in the Details: Why Is Talented ‘Amateur’ Historian Leon Day Obsessed with the Death of Ambrose Bierce?” The Austin Chronicle (May 17, 2002)
*A review of Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World, by Eric Foner. The Austin-American Statesman (April 28, 2002)
*“Confusing, Please Proofread,” The Texas Observer (April 26, 2002)
*A review of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water, by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, and Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, by Marq de Villiers. The Texas Observer (April 12, 2002)
*A review of The Natural, by Joe Klein. The Austin-American Statesman (March 24, 2002)
*“Historians of the World, Unite?,” American Enterprise Magazine (March 1, 2002)
*“Learning One’s Letters.” The Austin Chronicle (February 8, 2002)
*A review of After Capitalism: From Managerial Capitalism to Workplace Democracy, by Seymour Melman. The Texas Observer (February 1, 2002)
*A review of Empire: A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal, and the Battle for an American Icon, by Mitchell Pacelle. The Austin-American Statesman (January 27, 2002)

*A review of American Colonies, by Alan Taylor. The Austin-American Statesman (January 6, 2002)

*“Why Campus Cheating is Spreading,” (op-ed) Dallas Morning News (June 3, 2001)
*“An Intellectual Softball Lobbed--and Missed,” (op-ed) The Austin-American Statesman (March 28, 2001)
*“What if Bush Gets His Tax Cut?: A Historical View,” (op-ed) The Austin-American Statesman (March 5, 2001)

*A review of A People’s History of the American Revolution, by Ray Raphael. The Texas Observer (March 16, 2001)
*A review of From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement, by Luke Cole and Sheila Foster. The Texas Observer (December 7, 2001)
*A review of An American Insurrection: the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, by William Doyle. The Austin-American Statesman (November 18, 2001)
*“African-American Cooking Beyond Chitlins.” The Christian Science Monitor (November 14, 2001)
A review of President Nixon: Alone in the White House, by Richard Reeves. The Austin-American Statesman (November 11, 2001)
*A review of Bleeding the Patient: the Consequences of Corporate Health Care, by David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler; Dying in the City of the Blues: Sickle Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race and Health, by Keith Wailoo. The Texas Observer (October 12, 2001)
*A review of The New Low-Country Cooking, by Marvin Woods. Repast (Fall 2001)
*A review of the PBS documentary “People Like Us.” The Texas Observer (September 14, 2001)

*“Colonizing an Alien Corn: Maize in Colonial New England.” Repast (Summer 2000)
“Oppression, Opportunity, and Slave Foodways.” Ann Arbor Culinary Historians Newsletter (Fall 1999)

Contributing Writer Positions:

The Texas Observer

The History News Service

Editorial Positions:

Assistant Editor, The Journal of Texas Music History

Book Review Editor, History News Network

Columns

“Politics and Prose,” a monthly column in the Austin-American Statesman

“Texas Books,” a bi-monthly column in the Texas Observer

Fellowships, Awards, Grants, and Honors:

Runner Up, Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities (2004)

Dean’s Award for Excellency in Scholarly/Creative activity (2004)

Schlesinger Library Research Support Grant, Harvard University (2004)

The Linda D. Russo Travel Grant, the International Association of Culinary Professionals Foundation (January 2003)

University Honors (Whitbread) Advisor of the Year Award (2003)
The Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, scholar-in-residence (May and December 2002)
W.H.B Clowse Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society (Summer 2001)
The John E. Rovensky Fellowship in Business and Economic History, Department of
Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000-2001)
The Alfred D. Chandler Traveling Fellowship, Harvard Business School (2000-2001)
The Johns Hopkins University Department of History Fellowship (1997-2001)
University of Texas at Austin Research Assistantship (1996-1997)

III. SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES

Invited Lectures and Papers Delivered:

Invited Lecture, “Native Americans, African Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” The Culinary Historians of New York (September 14, 2005)

Invited Lecture, “Native Americans, African Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” Fraunces Tavern Lecture Series (September 14, 2005)

Invited Lecturer, “Native Americans, African Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” Daughters of the Texas Revolution, Jacob’s Well Chapter (March 14, 2005)

Invited Lecturer, The Burress Lecture at Howard Payne University, “Native Americans, African Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” (February 10, 2005)

Invited Lecturer, “Time and Space Convergence: A Joint U.S. History-Geography Curriculum,” Department of Geography (June 7-11, 2004)

Invited Lecturer, “A Taste of the Past: Understanding the Transatlantic World Through Food,” World History Association of Texas Annual Meeting, February 28, 2004.

“Native Americans, Backcountry Trade, and Food Preparation in the Colonial South,” Brown Bag Lecture Series, Phi Alpha Theta Society, Texas State (November 2003)

“Food Production in Colonial British America,” commencement address, Phi Alpha Theta Society annual banquet, Texas State (May 2003)

“What Did Early Americans Eat and Why Should We Care,” Student/Faculty Lunch Bunch, Campus Community Center, San Marcos, Texas (April 2003)

“Anxious Merchants and Technological Change in Puritan New England,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Historians of Technology, San Jose, California (October 2002).

“Accounting for the Past One Debit and Credit at a Time,” paper delivered at the Peabody Essex Museum (May 2002)

Media Appearances

Writers on the Air interview. Graham Stewart, KOOP, 91.7 FM ( May17, 2002).

KUT (NPR) Austin, “Morning Edition,” June 28, 2005 (in studio)

WBUR (NPR) Boston, “Here and Now with Robin Young,” July 5, 2005 (in studio)

WNYC (NPR) New York, “The Leonard Lopate Show,” July 21, 2005

WAMC Albany (NPR), “Roundtable” with Susan Arbetter, August 4, 2005

WURO Pittsburg, “On the Menu” with Ann and Peter Haigh, August 10, 2005

WREL, Lexington, VA. “Jim Bresnahan Show,” August 10, 2005

WERE, Cleveland, OH. “Maury’s Market,” September 8, 2005

Houston Public Radio, “Front Row,” September 8, 2005 (in studio)

WHYY (NPR), Philadelphia, “A Chef’s Table,” September 12, 2005 (in studio)

WKBK, Keene, NH. “What’s Cooking with Luca,” September 15, 2005

WREL, Lexington, VA. “The Happy Cook,” September 16, 2005