Michael Brooks

I lived in Detroit for almost twenty-five years before moving to Toledo to pursue business interests. After a decade plugging away as a retail business owner, I decided to return to school and also to pursue more fulfilling goals as a writer, as chasing the money-gods had lost its appeal to me.

As an academic:
Beginning Fall 2009 I am working full-time as an instructor at Bowling Green State University, where my concentration is presently in the development and teaching of online courses with the BGSU Center for Online and Blended Learning. I plan to defend my dissertation at the University of Toledo at the end of the fall semester.

My current academic research interests are in the roles of epidemic disease in history as well as the history of the colonial Atlantic. I received my Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Toledo, graduating with departmental and University honors. I was awarded first place in both the Shapiro Essay Contest and the Dean’s Essay Prize at UT in 2004. I completed my Master's thesis at UT, and am enrolled in the doctoral program at the university, concentrating on European expansion, epidemiological history, and modern European history. I have a special fondness for Russian history, though opportunities in this field have significantly diminished since the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 2007 I received a University of Toledo Graduate Fellowship, which is awarded to two UT graduate students per year. I took advantage of this honor by traveling abroad to archives in Europe, and I also plan to visit Latin America to broaden my knowldge base and research accumen.

I have taught at a wide variety of institutions of higher learning, ranging from small private schools to major metropolitan universities. Among the places I have called my academic home are the University of Toledo, Wayne State University, Monroe County Community College, Owens Community College, and Lourdes College.

I am a bit of a linguistic geek, and enjoy challenging myself with foreign languages. My Spanish and Portuguese are strong, and I have respectable reading skills with French, Italian, and Latin. I have also played with Russian quite a bit, although I am far from proficient in it. I can't read any Arabic to save my life, but I learned quite a few cool Arabic cuss words growing up near Dearborn, like العاهرة and التغوّط .

I recently began working as a freelance editor with Brill Publishing of Leiden in The Netherlands. They seem like agreeable folks, they pay well, and a writer just cannot underestimate the value of having friends in major publishing houses.

As a journalist:
As an active freelance journalist, my work has been published in a wide variety of local and national periodicals. I won back-to-back Touchstone Awards in 2004 and 2005 for my work as a reporter for Toledo newspapers, and merited an honorable mention of the coveted local news award in 2006 for my coverage of the 2005 North Toledo riot.

I am currently on a bit of a hiatus with journalism, eschewing freelance opportunities in favor of finishing my PhD. I have reached a point in my life where I no longer have the energy to try and be Superman any more, juggling full-time graduate coursework, teaching, and pounding the pavement for stories as a journalist. Still, I do toss off the occasional piece when the story grabs my attention.

I have had several peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals, and have a chapter in an upcoming anthology on indigenous peoples of North America. Material from this website, Historymike, has been featured on USAToday, Salon.com, MSNBC , and CBSNews.com. Also feel free to visit my photography blog, Toledo Perspectives.

I also work as a writing tutor, freelance editor, and web design consultant. Send me an email if you have any use for one of the above hats I wear; I am always looking to scrape up some extra cash to keep my kids well-shod and my creditors at bay.


Additional information
On the personal side, my wife and I have been foster and adoptive parents of children for many years, and we have lately begun to foster dogs (hey - we can only help out so many children, and dogs are always happy to see you). I read incessantly, write in a wide variety of genres, and eat like it's my full-time job.

We currently have nine seven six five six five four two children at home, both of whom fall under the category of "teenager." Oh, what blessed joys are the teenaged years...

When not scratching out a living as a writer and academic, I enjoy photography, playing guitar, spending time with my family, and plotting world domination.