I teach American history full-time here at LBCC and was trained in graduate school as an urban historian (someone who focuses on the historical growth, development, and decline of cities). Most of my research and writing has focused on Chicago, but I have also published on the history of Buffalo (New York), Los Angeles, and Mexico City.

I grew up in Southern California, and left after high school to complete my B.S. at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. The Naval Academy is basically a university where everyone wears uniforms, takes a mix of traditional academic and military science classes, and commits to serve in the Navy for a number of years upon graduation.

I completed my M.A. in history at U.C. San Diego while on active duty, after which the Navy transferred me to the Gulf coast of Texas.

After Texas, I left the Navy and returned to graduate school at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. There, I received my M.A. in Urban Education Policy  and Ph.D. in American Studies. American Studies is an “interdisciplinary” academic specialty, which means that those trained in it employ tools from a mix of academic disciplines to develop a better understanding of society and culture in the U.S. In my case, I mostly use methods from the disciplines of history, geography, and sociology.

Once I completed my Ph.D., I taught for a couple of years in the Department of History at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, and for another year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel (during which I also volunteered with the organization Ta’Ayush in the occupied West Bank). After Israel, I finally returned home in 2016 to teach in the History Program at LBCC.

I wrote the book Bulls Markets: Chicago’s Basketball Business and the New Inequality. (University of Chicago Press, 2018), completed and edited of the book Riot Zone: Chicago 1919. (Temple University Press, 2026), and have published articles in scholarly journals including Journal of Urban History, Social Science History, and Sociological Forum. My non-academic writing has appeared in outlets including Jacobin, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and the Washington Post.

In my free time I mostly like to read. My favorite author is Gore Vidal. I also enjoy spending time in the ocean, birdwatching, and watching movies.