Larry Schweikart

Larry E. Schweikart is an American historian and professor of history at the University of Dayton. He is the author of more than a dozen books.

Schweikart was born on April 21, 1951 in Mesa, Arizona and went to Arizona State University, where he also completed an M.A. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1984). By the time he had graduated, Schweikart had already written two books and several academic articles as a graduate student. After a year in the University of Wisconsin system, he took a position at the University of Dayton, where he teaches to the present.

Academic career

Schweikart graduated Arizona State University in 1972 with a B.A. in Political Science. He entered the ASU Master's program in 1977, publishing two national Phi Alpha Theta prize-winning articles in consecutive years, and received his M.A. in History in 1980. Schweikart received a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1983. Schweikart took a one-year position at the University of Wisconsin–Richland Center, then, in 1985, received an appointment to the University of Dayton. There he taught business and economic history, then military history. He is a full professor, and in 1987 was honored with the university's scholarship award for outstanding scholarship.

In 1999 he published a history of American business, The Entrepreneurial Adventure. In 2004 he co-authored the U.S. history book, A Patriot's History of the United States with Mike Allen, since a #1 bestseller. In 2006, he published America's Victories. As a result of that book Pres. George W. Bush invited him to the White House in 2006 to discuss war and history. In 2008, his book 48 Liberal Lies About American History reached the top 30. He appeared weekly on "Fox and Friends" to discuss textbook bias.

In 2010, his "Seven Events that Made America America" reached #35 on the New York Times extended list, while at the same time Fox Television Host Glenn Beck, whose show had reached its peak viewership of 3.5 million, began to tout "Patriot's History of the United States," saying it should be "required reading" in all schools. The book soon shot up to #1 on the New York Times extended list and remained there for several weeks.

That was followed by "What Would the Founders Say?" (2011) and "A Patriot's History Reader" with Michael Allen and Dave Dougherty. In October 2012, Schweikart and Dougherty published the first volume of a two-volume history of the modern world, "A Patriot's History of the Modern World: From America's Exceptional Ascent to the Atomic Bomb." The second volume, to 2012, was due out in 2013.

Following publication of "Seven Events," Schweikart and producer/director Marc Leif co-produced a documentary film called "Rockin' the Wall" about rock music's part in bringing down the Iron Curtain. The film featured a number of rock artists from the 1960s and 1970s, including the Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Toto, Quiet Riot, and Mother's Finest---a band Schweikart had toured with in Florida briefly during his drumming career. In October 2012 "Rockin' the Wall" was broadcast nationally on PBS affiliates. Schweikart and Leif then produced a sequel, "Other Walls 2 Fall," about music's part in breaking down the "walls" of oppressed countries, featuring a heavy metal band from Tehran, a Cambodian rapper, and celebrities Yanni, Busta Rhymes, and Clint Black.

That same year Schweikart and Leif founded Rockin' the Wall Studios and began production on one of Leif's dramatic feature films, "Fatale," and a multi-part documentary based on "Patriot's History."

References

http://www.rockinthewallstudios.com

External links

• A Patriot's History authors' website