O'Brien, (Warren) Greg(ory) 1966-
O'BRIEN, (Warren) Greg(ory) 1966-
PERSONAL: Born January 17, 1966, in Roanoke, VA; son of Warren B. (a real estate broker) and Sandra (Cook) O'Brien; married Jodi E. Pettazzoni (a project manager), May 20, 2000; children: Conor Godfrey. Education: Randolph-Macon College, B.A., 1988; James Madison University, M.A., 1994; University of Kentucky, Ph.D., 1998. Politics: "Independent." Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: American literature, politics, and environment.
ADDRESSES: Offıce—Department of History, University of Southern Mississippi, Box 5047, Hattiesburg, MS 39406. E-mail—g.obrien@usm.edu.
CAREER: University of Wyoming, Laramie, instructor in history, 1995; University of Kentucky, Lexington, instructor in history, 1998; University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, visiting assistant professor, 1998-2000, assistant professor, 2000-02, associate professor of history, 2002—, director of graduate studies in history, 2002-04. Guest speaker at other institutions, including University of Mississippi; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, Gordon Russell visiting professor in Native American studies, 2004; public speaker.
MEMBER: American Society for Ethnohistory, Organization of American Historians, Institute of Early American History and Culture, Southern Historical Association, Western Historical Association, Mississippi Historical Society, Phi Alpha Theta, Phi Kappa Phi.
AWARDS, HONORS: Price fellow, Clements Library, University of Michigan, 1997; Phillips Fund grant, American Philosophical Society, 1997; fellow, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 1999; Fletcher M. Green and Charles W. Ramsdell Award, Journal of Southern History, 2002, for article "The Conqueror Meets the Unconquered: Negotiating Cultural Boundaries on the Post-Revolutionary Southern Frontier"; McLemore Prize, Mississippi Historical Society, 2003, for Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830.
WRITINGS:
Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 2002.
(Editor, with Tamara Harvey) George Washington'sSouth, University Press of Florida (Gainesville, FL), 2003.
Contributor to books, including American Eras: Early American Civilizations and Exploration (to 1600), edited by Gretchen Starr-LeBeau, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998; Empire and Others: British Encounters with Indigenous Peoples, 1600-1850, edited by Martin Daunton and Rick Halpern, University of Pennsylvania Press (University Park, PA), 1999; and Southern Manhood: Perspectives on Masculinity in the Old South, edited by Craig Friend and Lorri Glover, University of Georgia Press (Athens, GA). Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals. Journal of Mississippi History, member of editorial review board, 2001—, editor of special issue, winter, 2003-04; editor-in-chief, Mississippi History Now Online, 2003—; Florida Historical Quarterly, member of editorial board, 2004—.
WORK IN PROGRESS: Editing Encountering the Newcomers: American Indian Perspectives on Contact through 1890, for College Publishing.
SIDELIGHTS: Greg O'Brien told CA: "Growing up in Virginia made me very conscious of early American history and instilled in me a lifelong interest to better understand my own and the nation's roots. As a professional historian I most appreciate other authors who turn historical actors into flesh-and-blood people with the concerns, frailties, and imperfections that characterize us all. The ability of certain individuals to impact the direction of history, whether at the global or local level, is an endless source of fascination for me. American Indian people and cultures are a particular interest for the alternative narrative they provide about American history. Their ability to simultaneously adapt to changing circumstances while preserving cultural traditions holds lessons for us all as we grapple with constant economic, political, and social change."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
ONLINE
University of Southern Mississippi Web site,http://www.usm.edu/ (October 26, 2004), "Greg O'Brien."