A historian of early America, Dr. Matthew Warner Osborn is currently writing a book on a fanciful character named the Night Hawk, who first appeared in a radical labor journal in the 1820s. This project grows out of his first book, Rum Maniacs: Alcoholic Insanity in the Early American Republic, which traces the medical, cultural and social history of delirium tremens.
Matthew teaches a range of undergraduate courses on colonial America, the American Revolution, and the early American republic, as well as introductory courses in alcohol and drug studies. His graduate colloquiums focus on the recent historiography of early America and the Atlantic World.
A California native, Matthew received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis. Prior to joining the UMKC history department in 2011, he taught at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA.
Courses
Undergraduate:
Graduate:
Academic Credentials
B.A. University of California, Santa Cruz (1989)
M.A./Ph.D. University of California, Davis (2007)