On American Social History
Author, Irish Iowa "American Heritage Series (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2019).
This is the first sustained study of the second largest immigrant group to settle in Iowa. Published just before St. Patrick’s Day, the book is now available for purchase online and in book stores across the state.
Author, Coralville “Images of America” (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015).
This pictorial volume documents the history of a dynamic community that grew from a small mill on the Iowa River to a substantial commercial enterprise at the turn of the 21st century. Coralville is the only city of that name in the world. The book is available for purchase online and in book stores across the state.
Editor, Immigrant America: European Ethnicity in the United States (New York: Garland Publishing, 1994).
First published in 1994, this collection of essays by leading scholars remains a useful assessment of the European influence on the evolution of American society. The book is available in both print and e-book editions and can be ordered online from the publisher.
On the American Presidency
Editor, Herbert Hoover and Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Documentary History (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
This is the third volume in a trilogy that traces Herbert Hoover’s rivalries and partnerships with his three successors: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The volume brings together both documents and commentary that narrate the contours of the partnerships. The book is available online in both print and e-book editions.
Editor, Uncommon Americans: The Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover “Contributions in American History,” No. 200, (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003).
This collection of essays is the first book-length study of this exceptional couple. It was published on the 125th anniversaries of the births of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover. The book is available online in both print and e-book editions.
Editor, At the President’s Side: The Vice Presidency in the Twentieth Century (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1997).
Pity the poor vice-presidency – a job much maligned but never refused. This book traces the office from the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt to the checkered tenure of Dan Quayle. The contributors include both scholars and journalists. The book is available for purchase online from the publisher in a print edition.
Editor [with Dwight M. Miller], Herbert Hoover and Harry S. Truman: A Documentary History (Worland, WY: High Plains Publishing, 1992).
This is the second volume in a trilogy that traces Herbert Hoover’s rivalries and partnerships with his three successors: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The volume brings together both documents and commentary that narrate the contours of the partnerships. First published in 1992, the book is out of print but available at https://www.trumanlibrary.org/hoover/
On Catholic Education
Author, Parish School: American Catholic Parochial Education from Colonial Times to the Present, Revised and Expanded Edition (Washington, DC: National Catholic Educational Association, 2016).
First published in 1996, the book was revised and expanded in a second edition. The original edition was widely praised as “the best history of Catholic education in the past fifty years” and received an honorable mention from the Catholic Press Association. The book is available online from the publisher.
Editor [with Thomas C. Hunt and David J. O’Brien], Urban Catholic Education: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2013).
These essays constitute a sequel to the volume that follows. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing to the present, parochial education has struggled to maintain its presence in the American educational establishment. The numbers of both schools and students continue to drop in the face of competition with public institutions. This book is available from the publisher in a print edition.
Editor [with Thomas C. Hunt], Urban Catholic Education: Tales of Twelve American Cities (Notre Dame, IN: Alliance for Catholic Education Press at the University of Notre Dame, 2010).
This volume brings together individual histories of parochial education in twelve of this country’s largest metropolitan areas. Each author documents the contours of these schools from their foundations up to the 1960s. The book is available from the publisher in a print edition.