JAMES S. OLSON
Distinguished Professor and Chair
Department of History
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, Texas 77341
(936) 294‑1486
Education
B.A. History, Brigham Young University, 1967.
M.A. History, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1969.
Ph.D. History, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1972.
Teaching Experience
Lecturer in History, Dowling College, Oakdale, New York, 1970‑1971
Lecturer in History, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1971‑1972
Assistant, Associate, and Professor of History, Sam Houston State
University, Huntsville, Texas, 1972‑1994.
Distinguished Professor of History, Sam Houston State University, 1994‑
Present.
Writing Recognition and Awards
Outstanding Academic Book Award, American Association of College and Research Libraries,
for Historical Dictionary of the New Deal: From Inauguration to Preparation for War 1987.
Outstanding Academic Book Award, American Association of College and Research Libraries,
for A History of Cancer, 1990.
Nominated by The Free Press for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Biography (for John Wayne American).
Ray and Past Browne National Book Award, Popular Culture Association, for John Wayne American, 1996.
Deolece Parmelee Award for Outstanding Research, Texas Historical Foundation, for A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory, 2001.
Nominated by The Johns Hopkins University Press for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in History (for Bathsheba=s Breast: Women, Cancer, and History).
The Excellence in Scholar/Academic Publishing Award, History of Science Category, the Association of American Publishers, 2003, for Bathsheba=s Breast: Women, Cancer, and History.
MAJOR PUBLICATIONS
Books: Monographs and Surveys
Herbert Hoover and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1931‑1933 (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1977).
The Ethnic Dimension in American History (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979).
Native Americans in the Twentieth Century (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1984). Co‑author: Raymond Wilson
Native Americans in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: The University of (Illinois Press, 1986). Co‑author: Raymond Wilson
Catholic Immigrants in America (Chicago: Nelson‑Hall, Inc., 1987).
Saving Capitalism: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the New Deal, 1933‑1940 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988).
Winning Is the Only Thing: Sports in America Since 1945 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989). Co‑author: Randy Roberts
Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945‑1990 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991). Co‑author: Randy Roberts.
Honest Graft: The World of George Washington Plunkitt (New York: Brandywine Press, 1993).
The Cuban‑Americans (New York: Twayne, 1993). Co-author: Judith E. Olson
The Ethnic Dimension in American History (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979). Second Edition: 1994.
Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945‑1990 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996). Co‑author: Randy Roberts. Second Edition: 1996.
John Wayne: American (New York: The Free Press, 1995). Paperback edition published by The University of Nebraska Press in 1997.
The Ethnic Dimension in American History (New York: Brandywine Press, 1999). Third Edition.
Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945‑1990 (New York: Brandywine Press, 2001). Co‑author: Randy Roberts. Third Edition.
A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory (New York: The Free Press, 2001). Co-author: Randy Roberts.
Bathsheba=s Breast: Women, Cancer, and History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Equality Deferred: Race and Ethnicity in America Since 1945 (New York: Wadsworth, 2003).
A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory (New York: The Free Press, 2004). Paperback Edition. Co-author: Randy Roberts.
Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945‑1990 (New York: Brandywine Press, 2004). Co‑author: Randy Roberts. Fourth Edition.
Books: Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Historical Dictionary of the New Deal: From Inauguration to War (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1985).
Historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1987).
Historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War (New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1987). Paperback Edition.
Historical Dictionary of the 1920s: From War to Depression (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1988).
An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of Central and South American Indians (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991.)
Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991.)
Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire, 1402‑1975 (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992).
Dictionary of United States Economic History (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1993).
Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994).
Ethnohistorical Dictionary of Africa (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996).
Historical Dictionary of the British Empire (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996). Co-Editor: Robert Shadle.
Encyclopedia of American Indian Civil Rights (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1997).
Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
The Industrial Revolution in America (Westport, CT: The Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002).
Books: Historiographies and Bibliographies
Slave Life in America: A Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1983).
The History of Cancer: An Annotated Bibliography (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1989).
The Vietnam War: A Handbook of Literature and Research (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1993).
Books: Anthologies
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (Glencoe: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1986.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts.
American Experiences, 1877 to the Present (Glencoe: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1986.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts.
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (Glencoe: Scott Foresman Little Brown, 1990.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts. Second Edition
American Experiences, 1877 to the Present (Glencoe: Scott Foresman Little Brown, 1990.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts. Second Edition.
Reflections on Western Civilization to 1660 (New York: HarperCollins, 1991.) Co‑editors: Ronald Fritze and Randy Roberts
Reflections on the Western Civilization, 1660 to the Present (New York: Harper‑Collins, 1991.) Co‑editors: Ronald Fritze and Randy Roberts
Reflections on World Civilization to 1660 (New York: HarperCollins, 1992.) Co‑editors: Ronald Fritze and Randy Roberts.
Reflections on World Civilization, 1660 to the Present (New York: Harper/Collins, 1992.) Co‑editors: Ronald Fritze and Randy Roberts.
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (New York: HarperCollins, 1994.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts. Third Edition.
American Experiences, 1865 to the Present (New York: HarperCollins,1994.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts. Third Edition.
America in the Twentieth Century: 1900-1945 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).
America in the Twentieth Century: 1945 to the Present (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994)
Dark Mirror: My Lai: A History in Documents (New York: Bedford Books, 1997).
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (New York: Longman Publishers, 1998). Co-editor: Randy Roberts. Fourth Edition.
American Experiences, 1865 to the Present (New York: Longman Publishers, 1998.) Co‑editor: Randy Roberts. Fourth Edition.
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (New York: Longman Publishers, 2002). Co-editor: Randy Roberts. Fifth Edition.
American Experiences, 1865 to the Present (New York: Longman Publishers, 2002). Co-editor: Randy Roberts. Fifth Edition.
American Experiences, 1607 to 1877 (New York: Longman Publishers, 2004). Co-editor: Randy Roberts. Sixth Edition.
American Experiences, 1865 to the Present (New York: Longman Publishers, 2004). Co-editor: Randy Roberts. Sixth Edition.
Articles
"Sports as Cultural Currency in Modern America." Journal of Urban History, 19 (November 1992), 127‑31.
"Vietnam Postmortems." Reviews in American History, 20 (September 1992), 421‑2.
"Doctors, Death, and Disease," American Quarterly, 42 (September 1990).
"Perfect Bodies, Perfect Lives: Health and Identity in Modern America," Lamar Journal of the Humanities, 3 (Fall 1989).
APolish Ethnoreligion in East Texas: The Cast of St. Joseph's Parish, New Waverly, Texas, 1866‑1900," East Texas Historical Review (Spring 1987).
"The Precarious Balance: American Military Policy Since 1945," in William MacDonald and John Carroll, eds., War and Crisis in Modern America (St. Louis: River City Press, 1983).
"Slaves, Psyches, and History: A Review Article," Journal of Ethnic Studies (October 1983).
“Pioneer Catholicism in Eastern Nevada, 1870‑1930," Nevada Historical Society Quarterly (Fall 1983).
AFelix Frankfurter, Samuel Rosenman, and Bernard Baruch,@ American Jewish History (March 1982).
"Herbert Hoover and Modern America," in Arthur S. Link, ed., Herbert Hoover Reconsidered (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981).
"The Depths of the Great Depression: Economic Collapse in West Virginia, 1932‑1933," West Virginia History (April 1977).
"Herbert Hoover: A Contemporary Perspective," Annals of Iowa (Winter 1976).
“The Boise Banking Panic of 1932," Idaho Yesterdays (Winter 1975).
"Oasis in East Texas: Conroe and the Great Depression," Texana (Spring 1975).
"Rehearsal for Disaster: Hoover, the RFC, and the Banking Crisis in Nevada,1932‑1933," The Western Historical Quarterly (April 1975).
"Liberal Politics and Ethnic Consciousness: The Rise of Mexican American Activism, 1951-1972," The Journal of Mexican American History (1975).
"The Politics of Religion, the New York Assembly, and the Coming of American Revolution, 1767‑1771," The Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (March 1974).
"The Anatomy of a Race Riot: Beaumont, Texas, 1943," Texana (Winter 1974).
“The Birth of a Discipline: An Essay on Chicano Historiography," Social Studies (December 1974).
"Herbert Hoover and `The Analogue of War'," Palimpsest (July 1973).
"Harvey C. Couch and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation," Arkansas Historical Quarterly (Winter 1973).
"Gifford Pinchot and the Politics of Hunger, 1932‑1933," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (October 1972).
"The End of Voluntarism: Herbert Hoover and the National Credit Corporation," Annals of Iowa (Fall 1972).
“Graduate School: A Personal Odyssey," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Fall 1972).
"Race, Class, and Progress: Black Leaders and Industrial Unionism, 1936‑1945," in Milton Cantor, ed., Black Labor in America (Westport: Negro Universities Press, 1970).
"Organized Black Leadership and Industrial Unionism: The Racial Response, 1936‑1945," Labor History (Summer 1969).