David Davidson

Field: America [Colonial]

Topic: "Republic of Risk: Entrepreneurship and Public Improvements in America, 1783-1808."

Advisor: T.H. Breen

Contact: d-davidsonnorthwestern.edu

David Davidson received a BA from Yale University in History and Political Science in 2002 and an MA from Northwestern University in History in 2003. His dissertation explores the early growth of American capitalism by asking how public infrastructure projects--including canals, turnpikes, and land developments--affected everyday life in the new republic. Davidson has been named a Dolores Zohrab Liebmann fellow for the 2007-2008 year. He has received fellowships from Harvard Business School, the American Philosophical Society, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Hearst Foundation, the New York State Library, and the Kaplan Center for the Humanities at Northwestern. Davidson organized a national conference at Northwestern in April 2006 entitled "Beyond the Founding Fathers: New Perspectives on the American Revolution." He has also taught an undergraduate seminar on early American religious history. Finally, Davidson is a little ashamed to admit that he is a lifelong Mets fan.