Larry Schweikart

Larry E. Schweikart is an American historian. He is a professor of history at the University of Dayton and the author of more than a dozen books.

Early Life and Musical Career

LS was born on April 21, 1951 in Mesa, AZ and lived in Higley, AZ, wherehis father Earl was a ranch foreman for the Daugherty Ranch. Earl was arodeo roper and excellent horseman. In 1961, Earl died and LS moved withhis mother, Eunice, to Chandler where he attended Chandler High Schoolfrom 1964 to 1968. He then enrolled in Arizona State University in thePolitical Science Program.

Throughout high school and college, however, LS spent most of his timeplaying drums in a variety of rock bands, and in 1972 upon graduation hejoined a band called "Goldmyne" led by John Tatum, formerly of the "Earwigs," which was the forerunner to "Alice Cooper."(Tatum has since gone on to a Christian music ministry in California).Tatum and his wife, Alice, currently a jazz singer in Phoenix, fleshedout the band with several other musicians and over a period of about twoyears the band played clubs in the Midwest, southwest, and Canada. Whenthat group broke up, LS played in several other groups before joining"Rampage," a southern-rock group that opened for "Steppenwolf," "SavoyBrown," and "Mother's Finest." The band cut several records, one of whichhad limited release and was reviewed by "Billboard" and "Record World."

Academic Career

Leaving the band in the mid-1970s, LS returned to Arizona where here-entered ASU to obtain a teaching certificate, taking a history coursethat inspired him to become a history professor. He entered the ASUMaster's program, publishing two national Phi Alpha Theta prize-winningarticles in consecutive years---at that point, the only time that hadever occurred. Upon receiving the MA, he was admitted to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and had already published his first book, "AHistory of Banking in Arizona". During his study at UCSB, he published hissecond book, a study of the Trident submarine program with his formerprofessor at ASU, D. Douglas Dalgleish. Graduating in 1984, LS took aone-year position at the University of Wisconsin-Richland Center, then,in 1985, received an appointment to the University of Dayton. Hisdoctoral dissertation, published as "Banking in the American South" wasawarded one of the top three economic history dissertations in the UnitedStates. Since arriving at UD, LS taught business and economic history, thenmilitary history. In the 1990s he began to focus on "trade" books asopposed to academic or textbooks, beginning with his history of Americanbusiness, "The Entrepreneurial Adventure", then in 2004, after almost adecade of research and writing, co-authored the best-selling U.S. historybook, "A Patriot's History of the United States". He continued to publishmajor trade books on national defense, history and historiography, andthe U.S. economy. In October 2008, the Conservative Book Club chose his "48 Liberal Lies About American History" to be one of the major dual offerings for their members, the other book being "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity" by Bill O'Reilly".

External Links

* [http://www.patriotshistoryusa.com/ "A Patriot's History" authors' website]