Participant Info
- First Name
- Rebecca Brenner
- Last Name
- Graham
- Country
- United States
- State
- RI
- rebeccabrennergraham@gmail.com
- Affiliation
- Brown University
- Website URL
- https://rebeccabrennergraham.com
- Keywords
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- PhD
- PhD
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
I am a writer, teacher, and historian of the United States.
My first book, Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany, was published by Kensington, and received an honorable mention from the Grateful American Book Prize in 2025.
As a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University, I coordinate Brown 2026: Marking 250 Years of American Democracy, and I teach a freshman seminar called American Revolution in Popular Culture.
I am currently writing a book on the American Revolution in female millennial pop culture from American Girl to Hamilton for St. Martin’s.
My research has been supported by the International Center for Jefferson Studies, the National Archives Foundation, and the White House Historical Association.
I have a BA in history and philosophy from Mount Holyoke College, MA in public history from American University, and PhD in history from American University, with a dissertation on American nineteenth-century religion-state relations through the lens of Sunday mail delivery.
Despite being from and living in Rhode Island, I also call Washington, DC, “home.”
- Recent Publications
Smithsonian Magazine (2026), In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was Breaking News. Here’s How the Founding Document Reached the American Public
The Washington Post (2025), Book Review: ‘Family of Spies’ by Christine Kuehn
Smithsonian Magazine (2025), The Reinvention of George Washington’s Mother, From Paragon of Virtue to Greedy Shrew to Widow Striving for Independence
Politico Magazine (2025), Trump is Waging a Culture War on the Library of Congress. It’s Been Done Before
Slate (2025), Climb Not One Mountain
Ms. (2025), ‘What Do We Call You?’ The Many Names of Frances Perkins
Slate (2022), Why the Philosophers Libertarians Love Always Come Out Worse for Wear
Los Angeles Review of Books (2022), French Cigarettes and a Lot of Coffee: On Skye C. Cleary’s ‘How to Be Authentic’
- Media Coverage
- Social Media
- @basicbookstagrammer
- Country Focus
- United States
- Expertise by Geography
- United States
- Expertise by Chronology
- 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, 21st century
- Expertise by Topic
