I am an independent historian based in Washington DC.

My first book, When Good Government Meant Big Government: The Quest to Expand Federal Power, 1913–1933, was published in February 2022 by Columbia University Press. You can read more about the book in my interview with The Docket.

I am still interested in the history (and future) of U.S. politics and in the relationship between capitalism, racism, and government. One of my long-term projects is to apply the analytical framework from When Good Government Meant Big Government to a longer time period and explain the development of the political forces that have created the present political crisis in the United States.

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In the meantime, I am currently focused on a book project that emerged from my own genealogical research:

• Useful to Their Nation: Choctaw Students and Families in the Removal Era, 1819–1834, draws on extensive research in records produced by the U.S. government and missionaries to tell the story of how the Choctaw Nation of Indians attempted to defend their culture, maintain their sovereignty, and resist pressure from the U.S. government to cede their traditional homelands in Mississippi and Alabama.

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I received my PhD in history from Case Western Reserve University in 2016, and I taught at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore from 2016 to 2019. Before beginning grad school in history in 2009, I was a journalist. See my CV here.

I grew up in Washington state. As an adult, I have lived in Washington, South Dakota, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, and (now) Washington, DC. I am an enrolled tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.