Woody Holton awarded NEH Fellowship

December 5, 2011

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a $50,400 fellowship to A. Linwood “Woody” Holton, professor of history and American studies at the University of Richmond.  Holton is among 215 grant recipients, or 8 percent of applicants, for 2011-12.

The grant will support Holton’s research and writing for the book, “Liberty is Sweet: An Integrated History of the American Revolution.” Building on his last three books, which dealt with the revolutionary era’s race, class and gender issues, Holton will incorporate new knowledge of social history into the familiar narrative of the American Revolution. 

“The point of my book is to clue history buffs in to the enormous advances that specialist historians of the American Revolution have made during the last 30 years,” Holton said. “The specialist scholars tend to write only for each other – in obscure journals in jargon prose. ‘Liberty is Sweet’ will translate the most exciting of these findings into plain prose that ordinary history lovers can understand.” 

Holton, a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, received the 2011 Bancroft Prize for his book “Abigail Adams” and was a finalist in the 2007 National Book Award for “Unruly Americans.” He has taught at Richmond since 2000 and holds a Ph.D. in early American history from Duke University and a B.A. in English literature from the University of Virginia.