University Distinguished Lecture

Biography

Kevin Boyle received his B.A. from the University of Detroit in 1982 and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1990. He teaches twentieth century American history, with an emphasis on class, race, and politics.

Kevin's most recent book, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age (Henry Holt, 2004; paperback edition, 2005) won the National Book Award for non-fiction, the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Tolerance Book Award, and the Society of Midland Authors Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Arc of Justice also was named a New York Times notable book for 2004, a State of Michigan notable book for 2005, and the 2007 selection for the Detroit metropolitan area's community-wide reading program. Kevin's other books include The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968 (Cornell University Press, 1995; paperback edition 1998); Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons: Images of Working-Class Detroit, 1900-1930, which he co-authored with Victoria Getis (Wayne State University Press, 1997); and an edited volume, Organized Labor and American Politics, 1894-1994: the Labor-Liberal Alliance (SUNY Press, 1998.)

Kevin's articles have appeared in Diplomatic History, The Journal of American History, Labor History, The Michigan Historical Review, and various anthologies. He has also published essays and reviews in the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, Inc. Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Kevin has held fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. In 1997-98 he held the Mary Ball Washington Chair in American History at University College Dublin, Ireland. He is also a Fellow of the Society of American Historians and a member of the PEN American Center.

Lecture navigation

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2. Biography
3. Lecture Abstract
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