Woody Holton

Woody Holton is the author of Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (Hill and Wang, 2007), a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize and the National Book Award.  Since the fall of 2000, Mr. Holton has taught Early American history at the University of Richmond, where he is an associate professor.  Among the classes he has taught are the American Revolution, Early American Women, Creating the Constitution, and Early African Americans.  In 2000, the Organization of American Historians awarded his first book, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1999), its prestigious Merle Curti award. Forced Founders is required reading on more than 150 campuses across the country.

Mr. Holton holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in American History from Duke University.  Before he started teaching, he directed numerous environmental campaigns and was founding director of the environmental advocacy group "Clean Up Congress." His articles and reviews have appeared in American Historical Review, Journal of American History, Reviews in American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of Southern History, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, and other journals.  One of his articles, "Divide et Impera: The Tenth Federalist in a Wider Sphere," was selected by a panel of distinguished scholars for reprinting in the Organization of American Historian’s Best American History Essays 2006.

Woody Holton is married to Gretchen Schoel, an expert on Internet-based relations between the United States and Japan.  The two have a daughter, Beverly.