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James E. McWilliams | |
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| Education | Georgetown University (B.A., 1991);Harvard University (Ed.M., 1994);University of Texas at Austin (M.A., 1996);Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D., 2001) |
| Occupation(s) | Author, professor |
| Notable work | Just Food: How Locavores are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly (2009),American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT (2008) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | James McWilliams: Texas State University |
James E. McWilliams (born November 28, 1968) is professor of history atTexas State University. He specializes in American history, of the colonial and early national period, and in the environmental history of the United States.[1] He also writes forThe Texas Observer and the History News Service, and has published a number of op-eds on food inThe New York Times,The Christian Science Monitor, andUSA Today. Some of his most popular articles advocateveganism.
He received his B.A. in philosophy fromGeorgetown University in 1991, his Ed.M. fromHarvard University in 1994, his M.A. in American studies from theUniversity of Texas at Austin in 1996, and his Ph.D. in history fromJohns Hopkins University in 2001.[2] He won theWalter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History awarded by theColonial Society of Massachusetts for 2000,[3] and won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in 2009.[4] He has been a fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program atYale University.[5]
McWilliams married on March 18, 1995.[6] James lived inAustin, Texas with his wife and two children in 2009.[2]
As late as 2013 McWilliams was stated to be an avidrunner[7] and avegan.[8]
In 2015, McWilliams authoredThe Modern Savage: Our Unthinking Decision to Eat Animals, a book supportive ofanimal rights and veganism. McWilliams criticizes thelocavore movement, such as backyard andnonindustrial farms which preach compassionate care of animals but slaughter them in the end.[9]
McWilliams' bookA Revolution in Eating was positively reviewed by anthropologistJeffrey Cole as an "engaging, creative, and informative account of foodin colonial British America."[10] Historian Etta Madden also positively reviewed the book, commenting that "McWilliams's study of the production and consumption of food contributes to a great understandingof the relationship between food and American identity."[11]
BiologistMarc Bekoff positively reviewedThe Modern Savage, as a "very thoughtful work about our meal plans in which he covers the ecological and ethical reasons for not eating nonhuman animals (animals)."[12]Kirkus Reviews commented, "While McWilliams offers convincing arguments for animal rights, they are undermined by the extensive quotes, which become tiresome and offer little useful context."[9] McWilliams' views on agriculture, food production, and animal husbandry have been criticized by other authors in the space, including Joel Salatin.[13] In her review in the Chicago Tribune, journalist Monica Eng questions McWilliams' "contrarian essays" that "play well in the land of page views, [but] don't always fare so well in terms of accuracy."[14]
isbn:9780231139427.
a recent fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University.
He is an avid runner
But, since becoming a vegan, I can sometimes see why the stereotype persists.
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