JACKSON, Kenneth T. 1939-

PERSONAL:

Born July 27, 1939, in Memphis, TN; son of Kenneth Gordon (an accountant) and Elizabeth (Willins) Jackson; married Barbara Ann Bruce (a teacher), August 25, 1962; children: Kevan Parish, Kenneth Gordon II (deceased). Education: Memphis State University, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1961; University of Chicago, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., 1966. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—44 Kitchel Rd., Mount Kisco, NY 10549-4516. Office—Department of History, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. E-mail—ktj1@columbia.sedu.

CAREER:

Educator and author. Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH, lecturer in history, 1967-68; Columbia University, New York, NY, assistant professor, 1968-71, associate professor, 1971-76, professor of history, 1976-87, Mellon Professor, 1987-90, Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences, 1990—, chairman, department of history, 1994-97. Visiting professor, Princeton University, 1973-74, George Washington University, 1982-83, University of California—Los Angeles, 1986-87. Chair, Bradley Commission on History in Schools, 1987-90, National Council for History Education, Inc., 1990-92. Trustee of South St. Seaport Museum, 1989, National Council for History in Education, 1990-98, Transportation Alternatives, 1995-97, Skyscraper Museum, 1996, New-York Historical Society, 1996 (vice chair, 1998). Has appeared as a guest on television programs, including Nightline, World News Tonight, Today Show, and Up to the Minute. Also vestryman, Trinity Church, Wall St., 1997. Military service: U.S. Air Force, research and development director at Air Force Institute of Technology, 1965-68; became captain.

MEMBER:

American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians (president, 2000-01), Society of American Historians (fellow; president, 1998-2000), American Association of University Professors, Urban Historian Association (president, 1994-95); New-York Historical Society (president emeritus).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1961-62, 1964-65; National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, 1969-70; American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, 1972-73; Bancroft Prize, and Francis Parkman Prize, both 1986, both for Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States; Mark Van Doren Technology Award, Columbia University, 1989; Outstanding Alumni Award, University of Memphis, 1989; Great Teacher Award, Society of Columbia Graduates, 1999.

WRITINGS:

The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations: A Record of Forty Years, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, 1963.

The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1967, reprinted with a new forward by the author, I. R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 1992.

(Editor, with Leonard Dinnerstein) American Vistas, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1971, seventh edition, 1995.

(Editor, with Stanley K. Schultz) Cities in American History, Knopf (New York, NY), 1972.

(Editor) Atlas of American History, revised edition, Scribner (New York, NY), 1978.

Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1985.

(With Camilo José Vegara) Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery, Princeton Architectural Press (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor) The Encyclopedia of New York City, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1995.

(Author of introduction) John B. Manbeck, editor, The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1998.

(Editor) The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Scribner (New York, NY), Volume 1: 1981-1985, 1998, Volume 2: 1986-1990, 1998, Volume 3, 1991-1993, 2001, Volume 4, 1994-1996, 2001, Volume 5, 1997-1999, 2002, Volume 6, 2000-2002, 2003.

The Past Revealed: Museum Collection Highlights from the New-York Historical Society, New-York Historical Society (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor, with David S. Dunbar) Empire City: New York through the Centuries, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to the PBS documentary New York and its companion volume. Editor in chief of several supplements to the Dictionary of American Biography, Scribner (New York, NY).

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Gentleman's Agreement: Race, Class, and Differential Development in Newark, White Plains, and Darien, 1840-1990; Road to Hell: Transportation Policy and the Decline of the United States.

SIDELIGHTS:

Urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson is the author of a number of books about New York City and urban American, but he perhaps is best known as the editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City. Spanning more than thirteen-hundred pages, the monumental Encyclopedia contains more than forty-three hundred alphabetical entries from more than six-hundred-fifty contributors and nearly seven-hundred illustrations. Arranged chronologically, the Encyclopedia covers prehistory to the present and includes discussion of minority groups often ignored in scholarly publications and popular writings. An American Heritage reviewer described the book as a "spirited and fascinating compendium" that is "heavy as a piano." A Booklist reviewer noted that the Encyclopedia appeals to a wide range of readers and dubbed it "an indispensable resource wherever there is curiosity about the history, culture, and diverse life of our nation's greatest city." Writing in ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, Martin H. Levinson remarked, "I've spent many a happy hour with the Encyclopedia, perusing random entries and learning all sorts of interesting trivia."

In an earlier work, Jackson contemplates the effects of urban sprawl in America in Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. In a review of the book for Whole Earth Review, John Coate explained that suburbanization, in terms of population shifts, has become "as important as the movement of eastern and southern Europeans to Ellis Island or the migration of American blacks to northern cities." Noted J. Anthony Lukas in New Republic, "As befits a social historian, Jackson presents detailed accounts of the evolution of urban transportation; real estate 'subdivisions'; municipal annexations; federal subsidies and tax policy; the interstate highway system; motels, mobile homes, fast-food restaurants, and drive-in theaters." Lukas went on to conclude, "Much of this material is familiar enough, but some is fresh and pungent." Jackson also addresses the significance of race in American housing patterns, believing that it is a fear of those with a different skin color that drives many people to seek shelter with their own kind. He questions the government's role in ethnic and racial segregation and discrimination, a move which Lukas considered "a brave indictment of our national housing, highway, and tax policies." While Lukas regretted "that Jackson fails to grapple fully with suburbia's cultural dimension," he felt that the author "addresses [the big questions] with stolid determination."

In 1998, the first volume of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, edited by Jackson, appeared to favorable reviews. Reference & User Services Quarterly reviewer Albert Hallenberg explained that The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, commonly referred to as SEAL is "for all practical purposes, Charles Scribner's Sons' continuation of its own esteemed Dictionary of American Biography (DAB)." Each volume of SEAL covers famous deceased Americans in a five-year time span. To be selected for inclusion in the series, a person must have made important contributions while living in the United States, but does not have to have been born stateside. Each entry contains a detailed chronological description on how the individual became famous, as well as explaining his or her accomplishments. Hallenberg concluded, "Overall, SEAL is a worthy (unofficial) continuation of the DAB. It is not only a solid source of biographical information, but with its readable entries and photographs, an entertaining source to browse through." Library Journal 's Charles L. Lumpskins likewise considered the series a "valuable, high-quality reference work."

Jackson edited Empire City: New York through the Centuries with David S. Dunbar, the founder of the CITYterm program, an academic program for high-school students. The book contains 158 writings that portray the city as both an emblem of freedom and an icon of poverty and despair. Empire City begins with Henry Hudson's account of his 1609 voyage on the river that now bears his name and includes writings from Washington Irving, Walt Whitman, and John P. Avalon, the former chief speechwriter and deputy communications director for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Avalon was responsible for writing the eulogies of four hundred city workers who perished in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In a review of Empire City, a Publishers Weekly contributor concluded, "The sheer amount of out-of-the-way text and lore among these 158 pieces is worth the price of admission; the city comes alive through the texts it has produced."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

AB Bookman's Weekly, April 15, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 13.

American Heritage, December, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 107.

American Historical Review, June, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, p. 755.

American Libraries, May, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 62.

American Reference Books Annual, 1979, review of Atlas of American History, p. 206; 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 46; 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985, p. 16.

Antioch Review, summer, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 372.

Best Sellers, January, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 394.

Black Scholar, fall, 1992, review of The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930, p. 69.

Booklist, November 1, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 502; December 15, 1998, Mary Carroll, review of The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, p. 723; January 1, 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985, p. 928; April 15, 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1986-1990, p. 1548; May 15, 2002, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 5: 1997-1999, p. 1632.

Book World, July 5, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 13.

Choice, September, 1978, review of Atlas of American History, p. 842; January, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 779; December, 1991, review of The Poverty of Structuralism, p. 587; September, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 96; April, 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985, p. 1431.

ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, spring, 1996, Martin H. Levinson, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, pp. 112-114.

History: Reviews of New Books, winter, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 62.

Journal of American History, June, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 227.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, winter, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 691.

Journal of Social History, spring, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 605; fall, 1997, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 183.

Journal of Southern History, May, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 350.

Journal of Urban History, May, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 348; May, 1992, review of Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery, p. 338; spring, 1995, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 643.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1985, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 629.

Library Journal, May 15, 1978, review of Atlas of American History, p. 1051; September 1, 1985, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 196; September 1, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 160; April 15, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 40; February 15, 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985, p. 143; May 1, 2001, Charles L. Lumpskins, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 3: 1991-1993, p. 72, May 1, 2001, The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 4: 1994-1996, p. 72; November 15, 2002, Harry Frumerman, review of Empire City: New York through the Centuries, p. 84.

New England Quarterly, December, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 611.

New Leader, December 4, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 3.

New Republic, March 10, 1986, J. Anthony Lukas, review of Crabgrass Frontier, pp. 34-38.

New Statesman & Society, February 9, 1996, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 39.

Newsweek, December 4, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 82.

New Yorker, February 22, 1999, review of Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, p. 172.

New York Review of Books, November 16, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 4.

New York Times, April 17, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 151.

New York Times Book Review, April 27, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 14; October 8, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 9.

Observer, June 7, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 34; October 22, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 14.

Pacific Historical Review, fall, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 115.

Political Science Quarterly, March, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 493.

Psychology Today, July, 1986, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 74.

Public Historian, spring, 1998, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 63.

Public Interest, fall, 1996, Nathan Glazer, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, pp. 106-115.

Publishers Weekly, October 14, 2002, review of Empire City, p. 79.

Queen's Quarterly, spring, 1987, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 247.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 1999, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1986-1990, p. 21; May, 2001, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1994-1996, p. 14.

Reference & User Services Quarterly, summer, 1999, Albert Hallenberg, review of The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985, p. 425.

Spectator, November 11, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 54.

Village Voice, October 31, 1995, review of The Encyclopedia of New York City, p. 54.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1983, review of Ku Klux Klan in the City, p. 23.

Whole Earth Review, spring, 1988, John Coate, review of Crabgrass Frontier, p. 106.

ONLINE

Columbia University,http://www.columbia.edu/ (April 16, 2003), "Kenneth T. Jackson."

Public Broadcasting System,http://www.pbs.org/ (August 30, 2004), First Measured Century interview with Kenneth T. Jackson.*