Sean Wilentz
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Sean Wilentz (b. in New York, N.Y., 1951) is the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1979. His writings have earned him wide acclaim as one of the greatest living historians of the United States. But his reputation and influence are not restricted to the academy. Wilentz received criticism and acclaim for a Rolling Stone article in May of 2006 which attempted to answer whether George W. Bush was the worst president in United States history. Although the article does not make any definite assertion, the cover caricature and the liberal stance of the magazine insinuated that he may well be the worst president in history.
Wilentz took his B.A. at Columbia University in 1972, before earning another B.A. at Oxford University (Mitchell Fellowship) and his Ph.D. at Yale University. An unabashed liberal in his political writings, Wilentz was highly critical of the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998 and, with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and C. Vann Woodward, he organized an ad hoc anti-impeachment group, Historians in Defense of the Constitution, which enlisted the support of nearly 500 historians. The group purchased an advertisement page in the New York Times stating its opposition to impeachment on constitutional grounds.
Wilentz's distinguished historical scholarship has focused mainly on the early years of the American republic. His major study to date, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, received the Bancroft Prize in 2006 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His first book, Chants Democratic, won several coveted honors, including the Beveridge Award from the American Historical Association. A contributing editor at The New Republic, Wilentz writes widely on music and the arts as well as history and politics, and has received a Grammy nomination and, from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a Deems Taylor Award for musical commentary.
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