Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley is a historian and popular author who has authored some of the most iconic and venerable books of recent decades. Spanning many subject matters, Brinkley’s work has won major awards, been the subject of Hollywood adaptations, and provided inspiring biographies of figures from politics to culture.

Douglas Brinkley began his career teaching at the University of New Orleans, where he wrote about New Orleans culture and the fishing industry for local papers and magazines. This developed into his first book, “The Great Tri-State Caddo Lake,” which was released in 1986. From there, Brinkley’s subsequent books wove their way through history, ranging from Ronald Reagan to the Vietnam War and from Rosa Parks to Hunter S. Thompson. His other works include “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion,” “Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-1971,” “Rosa Parks: A Life,” and “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” He also wrote the introduction for “Huey Long,” a posthumous volume edited by his friend and colleague William Ivy Hair.

Brinkley has received widespread acclaim for his work. His work has been featured on the New York Times’ bestseller list and he has earned several awards and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and the New-York Historical Society’s American History Book Prize. Additionally, he has appeared on “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” “The Today Show,” and “Meet the Press,” and has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

His work as a historian, biographer, and journalist has been adapted to the silver screen several times, most notably in the 2005 biopic “Thirteen Days,” directed by Roger Donaldson, which was based on his book of the same name. In fact, Brinkley wrote the screen play for the film.

Brinkley’s most recent works include the newly published “The Atlantic Bridge: Kennedy and Early Cold War Europe,” as well as “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America,” “The Reagan Diaries,” and “The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity.”

Douglas Brinkley is widely respected as a historian, professor, and writer. His books have informed and educated generations, and his contributions to the field of historiography have expanded the possibility of what it means to understand and interpret our past. He continues to impact the world today, both through his academic work and his extraordinary popular works.