DAVID GREENBERG is distinguished professor of History and of Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University and a frequent commentator in the national news media on contemporary politics and public affairs. He specializes in American political and cultural history. His most recent book, John Lewis: A Life (Simon & Schuster, 2024), a biography of the civil rights hero and congressman, has been called “panoramic and richly insightful” by Brent Staples in the New York Times Book Review, and a book that “sets a new standard” for political biography. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and won the Malcolm and Muriel Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history from the Georgia Historical Association.

Prof. Greenberg’s first book, Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image (W.W. Norton, 2003) won the Washington Monthly Annual Political Book Award, the American Journalism History Award, and Columbia University’s Bancroft Dissertation Award. Calvin Coolidge (Henry Holt), a biography for the American Presidents Series, was published in December 2006 and appeared on the Washington Post’s list of best books of 2007. Presidential Doodles (Basic Books, 2006) was widely reviewed and featured on CNN, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and CBS’s “Sunday Morning.” Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency (W.W. Norton, 2016) examines the rise of the White House spin machine, from the Progressive Era to the present day, and the debates that Americans have waged over its implications for democracy. The book won multiple awards, including the Goldsmith Book Prize from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Formerly a full-time journalist, Prof. Greenberg is now a contributing editor to Politico Magazine, where he writes a regular column. He previously served as managing editor and acting editor of The New Republic (and later a contributing editor). Early in his career, he was the assistant to author Bob Woodward on The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House (Simon & Schuster, 1994). At Slate he pioneered the History Lesson column, the first-ever column by a professional historian to regularly analyze current affairs in light of their history. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Daedalus, Dissent, Raritan, and many other scholarly and popular publications.

He has received many awards and fellowships for his scholarship including from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other awards and honors include the Hiett Prize, given each year to a single junior scholar in the humanities whose work has had a public influence; the Rutgers University Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence; the Rutgers University Research Council Grant, Social and Racial Justice Award, for 2023–2024; and the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, from the National Council of Teachers of English. He graduated from Yale, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his PhD from Columbia. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Suzanne Nossel, and their children, Leo and Liza.

Contact Information

David Greenberg Distinguished Professor; History, Journalism & Media Studies
Email: davidgr@rutgers.edu
Tel: (646) 504 – 5071
Twitter: @republicofspin
Bluesky: @davidgreenberg.bsky.social

Journalism & Media Studies Department Profile
History Department Department Profile
Curriculum Vitae (long)
Curriculum Vitae (5 pages)

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