Edward Berkowitz

Edward Berkowitz writes on American social welfare policy, recent American history, and American cultural history. An author of eleven books and over seventy articles, he has been acclaimed as the leading historian of Social Security and of America's welfare state. Professor Berkowitz's current project involves a brief history of movies, television, and radio from the 1920's through the 1970's, which he is undertaking under contract with Cambridge University Press. He teaches courses in twentieth century American history, the movies and mass media in modern America, and the application of history to public policy. (Complete C.V.)

Selected Publications

Social Security: A Documentary History. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2008. Co-authored with Larry DeWitt and Daniel Beland.

Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.

Robert Ball and the Politics of Social Security. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.

The Medical Follow-up Agency, 1946-1996. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. Co-authored with Mark Santangelo.

To Improve Human Health: A History of the Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998.

Mr. Social Security-the Life of Wilbur J. Cohen. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995.

Creating the Welfare State: The Political Economy of Twentieth-Century Reform. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Co-authored with Kim McQuaid.

America's Welfare State: From Roosevelt to Reagan. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1991.

Disabled Policy: America's Programs for the Handicapped-A Twentieth Century Fund Report. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Courses Taught

Hist 72: Introduction to American History
Hist 101: The Movies and Mass Media in America
Hist 133: Recent US History, 1880-1945
Hist 176: The Modern American Presidency
Hist 214: Seminar: History and Public Policy

Education

Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1976.