Hello! I was born and raised in Michigan, and I spent my teenage years in a tiny town called Essexville. Then, like everyone else in my immediate family, I did my undergraduate work at Michigan State University. It was the right choice for me. When I first started, I could not have imagined that I'd eventually want to go into academia, but I had some truly great professors at MSU, and they helped kindle some of my current interests. Later, I got a Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University, and from 2001-2009 I taught in the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature at Harvard. Back when I was a grad student, I co-edited a couple of books on American radicalism. I still think that's an important and oft-overlooked topic, but truth be told, I'm not much of a radical myself. (I don't like being ideologically pigeonholed.) My first full book, "Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media In America," (Oxford, 2011) is a scholarly monograph, based on my Ph.D. dissertation. My latest, "Beatles Vs. Stones," (Simon & Schuster, 2013) is a popular history. I examine the friendship and "rivalry" between the two groups, and assess how it was constructed -- by fans, the media, and the groups themselves. It's a short book, but I worked hard on it, and it was a lot of fun to write. Currently I'm an assistant professor of history at Georgia State University, in Atlanta. I love my job, and I'm excited to be getting started on a new project, on Garry Trudeau and his great comic strip, "Doonesbury." Thanks so much for your interest. My email address is easy to find, so please feel free to be in touch if you like. Happy reading!