Associate Professor Emeritus of History and the College
Prof. Cook has retired and no longer directs BA theses or accepts new graduate students.
PhD'72 Johns Hopkins University
Mailing Address
The University of Chicago
Department of History
1126 East 59th Street, Mailbox 37
Chicago, IL 60637
Biography
I am a specialist in early modern English and American history, with teaching interests that span the Atlantic. My research is concentrated in early American history, with a special focus in social history and a geographical focus on New England. I am especially interested in themes of community, family, rural economy and society, grassroots religion, and the social context of political behavior.
Publications
—The Fathers of the Towns: Leadership and Community Structure in Eighteenth Century New England. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1976.
—Ossipee, New Hampshire, 1785–1985: A History, vol. 1. Portsmouth, NH: Peter Randall Publishers, 1989 (popular history).
—"Geography and History: Spatial Perspectives for the Study of Early America," Historical Methods 13 (1980), 19–28.
—"Local Leadership and the Typology of New England Towns, 1700– 1775," Political Science Quarterly 86 (1971), 586–608.
—"Social Behavior and Changing Values in Dedham, Massachusetts, 1770–1775," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, 27 (1970), 546–80.
