H. W. BRANDS is Distinguished Professor and Melbern G. Glasscock Chair of American History at Texas A&M University. He is the author of many books, among them THE FIRST AMERICAN: THE LIFE & TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and T.R.: THE LAST ROMANTIC, a critically acclaimed biography of Theodore Roosevelt. He lives in Austin, Texas.
