Charles Postel

Biography

My teaching and research focus on social movements and politics in the United States. I am especially interested in the political ideas that have inspired radical protest and reform, as well as conservative activism. My first book, The Populist Vision (Oxford 2007), is a history of the Populist movement of the 1890s, the most powerful revolt against corporate power in U.S. history. My new book project is a history of social mobilizations of farmers, workers, women, and other activists and how they reshaped post-Civil War America. Outside the university I am interested in history education in the public schools and have been involved in collaborations with K-12 educators. I also write historical commentary for news services and other media.

Education

• Ph.D. UC-Berkeley, 2002
• B.A. UC-Berkeley, 1995
• Laney College, 1992

Research Interests

• Politics & Social Movements
• Populism
• Radicalism & Reform
• Gilded Age & Progressive Era
• Conservatism

Selected Awards

• Society of American Historians, elected 2018
• Stanford Humanities Center Fellow, 2016-2017
• Fulbright-Dow Distinguished Research Chair, Roosevelt Study Center, Netherlands, fall 2012
• Ghaemian Scholar-in-Residence, Center for American Studies, University of Heidelberg, 2011-12
• Bancroft Prize, Trustees of Columbia University, 2008
• Frederick Jackson Turner Award, Organization of American Historians, 20008
• Roland Marchand Award for Service to K-12 Education, History Project, UC-Davis, 2007

Selected Publications

Books:

• The Populist Vision (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Book Chapters:

• “TR, Wilson, and the Origins of the Progressive Tradition,” in Progressivism in America: Past, Present and Future, David B. Woolner and John M. Thompson, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2015)
• “The American Populist and Anti-Populist Legacy,” in Transformations of Populism in Europe and the Americas: History and Recent Tendencies, John Abromeit, et al, eds. (Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2015)
• “The Tea Party in Historical Perspective: A Conservative Response to a Crisis of Political Economy,” in Steep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party, Lawrence Rosenthal and Christine Trost, eds. (University of California Press, 2012)

Articles:

• "What We Talk About When We Talk about Populism" Raritan: A Quarterly Review Fall 2017 vol. 37 no. 2
• "If Trump and Sanders Are Both Populists, What Does Populist Mean?" The American Historian. (August 2016)
• “Murder on the Brazos: The Religious Context of the Populist Revolt – A Case Study,” in The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (April 2016)
• “The 2016 Presidential Campaign: The Past and Present of American Tolerance and Intolerance,” Religion and Politics, February 2, 2016.
• “If They Repeal the Progressive Era, Should We Care?” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (July 2014)
•  “Response,” in “Roundtable on Charles Postel’s Book The Populist Vision,” Kansas History, (Spring 2009)

Commentary:

• “The Future of Work: The Coming Political Storms,” for a special project from the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, Pacific-Standard Magazine, Oct 2015
• “Why Conservatives Spin Fairytales about the Gold Standard,” Reuters, Sept 17, 2013
• “Populists, Plutocrats and the GOP Sales Tax,” Reuters, Feb 14, 2013
• “The End of White Affirmative Action,” Reuters, Nov 16, 2012
• “Why Voter ID Laws are Like a Poll Tax,” Politico, Aug 7, 2012
• “Occupy: A Populist Response to the Crisis of Inequality,” Mittelweg 36, May 2012, in Eurozine, July 2012

Courses Recently Taught

Undergraduate:

• 121: The U.S. 1877-present
• 426: The U.S. 1877-1916
• 427: The U.S. 1916-1945
• 481: Thought & Culture in America, 1880-present
• 642: The Conservative Movement, 1935-present
• 642: Reformers & Radicals, 1865-1920 

Graduate:

• 790: Readings in Reconstruction, Gilded Age & Progressive Era History
• 790: Readings in 20th-Century U.S. History
• 790: Researching Protest, Reform & Politics