“People who teach American history survey classes have a lot of ground to cover and tend to focus on landmarks. You get through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and you have to get to the beginning of the 20th century fast. It's pretty easy to go lightly on the Gilded Age.”

American historian and author

H. W. Brands is an American historian and author. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, and earned his PhD there in 1985. He has written more than thirty books on U.S. history. His work has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist, reflecting a career focused on American political and historical writing.