H. W. Brands

Henry William Brands was born in Oregon, went to college in California, sold cutlery across the American West, and earned graduate degrees in mathematics and history in Oregon and Texas. He taught at Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M University before joining the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History. He teaches history and writing to graduate students and undergraduates. He writes on American history and politics, with books including:

- "The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace"
- "The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin"
- "Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt"
- "Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times"
- "The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream"

Several of his books have been bestsellers and two, Traitor to His Class and The First American, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He lectures frequently on historical and current events and can be seen and heard on national and international television and radio.

His writings have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Czech, Danish, and Ukrainian. For the past three years he has been writing a history of the United States in haiku form and publishing it on Twitter. He guesses he will be at it for two more years.