Griffin, Patrick 1965–

views updated

Griffin, Patrick 1965–

PERSONAL:

Born 1965. Education: University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1987; Columbia University, M.A., 1991; Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Corcoran Department of History, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400180, Randall Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and professor. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, associate professor, 2006—. Taught at Ohio University.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Andrew Mellon Fellowship for the Study of Intellectual History, 1997; Helen Coast Hayes Award for Teaching Excellence, Ohio University, 2003; University Professor Award, Outstanding Instructor at Ohio University, 2004; American Council of Learned Societies, Andrew W. Mellon fellow, 2004-05; Centre for the Study of Human Settlement and Historical Change senior fellow, National University of Ireland, 2004-05.

WRITINGS:

The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2001.

American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier, Hill & Wang (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to numerous periodicals, including Irish Times, Reviews in American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of British Studies, and Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.

SIDELIGHTS:

Patrick Griffin is a professor of history who has written two books exploring the concepts of nationality, immigration, and colonialism. In The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764, Griffin not only provides historical information on the immigration of Irish to America but studies the cultural, religious, and economic implications of the resettling. In a review for the English Historical Review, contributor L.M. Cullen described it as a ‘a promising book, even if it displays some unfamiliarity with Irish history.’ Cullen further added: ‘Though [Griffin] is somewhat uncertain in his grasp of the economic background, narrow in his view of Presbyterians (which is either selective or coloured by the restricted chronological use of the sources) and questionable in postulating an identity problem, Griffin has identified themes that lend themselves to further development.’ Bruce P. Lenman, writing for H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, found the book ‘small but important’ and ‘a model monograph,’ noting that an ‘excellent feature … is the sane way it treats the evidence of the role of the Irish landlord in this saga.’ In History: Review of New Books, Stanley H. Palmer wrote: ‘This highly recommended monograph is based on broad and deep archival research on both sides of the ocean and is written in a clear, lively style that quotes abundantly from contemporary sources."

Griffin's next book, American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier, looks to a different area of settlement in early America: the western frontier. Peace in the western colonies was fragile, and conflicts between the European settlers and Native Americans were frequent. Griffin maintains in the book that a certain amount of violence against Native Americans was tolerated if not encouraged at the time. In all, the book is a ‘provocative study of how the war-of-each-against-all on the western frontier of America shaped the revolutionary nation,’ according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that Griffin ‘judiciously weaves analysis into riveting stories of riots and unrest."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

English Historical Review, November, 2002, L.M. Cullen, review of The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764, p. 1351.

History: Review of New Books, winter, 2002, Stanley H. Palmer, review of The People with No Name, p. 61.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2007, review of American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier, p. 62.

Publishers Weekly, January 1, 2007, review of American Leviathan, p. 38.