Research in
American Political Development -- American Political History

Book

The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928 (Princeton University Press, 2001).

• Winner, The 2002 Gladys Kammerer Award of the American Political Science Association, for the best book published in 2001 on American politics and policy.
• Winner, The 2002 Charles Levine Memorial Award of the International Poilitical Science Association, for the best book published in 2001 on bureaucracy and public administration.

Purchase the book through Princeton University Press, or Amazon, or Shaman Drum.

Here's a photo of two guys who play a pretty important role in my book -- Gifford Pinchot (first Chief Forester of the U.S. Forest Service), and Harvey W. Wiley (first Chief of Chemistry, Bureau of Chemistry, U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Introduction to the book (in PDF)

Articles and Papers

"Centralization and the Corporate Metaphor in Executive Departments, 1880-1928," Studies in American Political Development, 12 (1) (Spring 1998): 106-147.

"From Patronage to Policy: The Centralization Campaign in Iowa Post Offices, 1880-1910," Annals of Iowa (Summer 1999).

"State Building through Reputation Building: Coalitions of Esteem and Program Innovation in the National Postal System, 1883-1928," Studies in American Political Development, 14 (2) (Fall 2000), 121-155.

"What is the Marginal Value of Analytic Narratives?" Social Science History 24:4 (Winter 2000) 653-667.

"The Political Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy," Studies in American Political Development, 15 (1) (Spring 2001), 113-122.

"Merit Reform, Networks, and the Transformation of Bureaucratic Recruitment: The Case of the USDA, 1880-1920."

"Institutional Development in a System of Separated Powers," with Keith Whittington. Forthcoming, Perspectives on Politics.

"The Multiple and Material Legacies of Stephen Skowronek," forthcoming, Social Science History.

"Crisis and the Emergence of Regulation: The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938."

"Lesson, Portraiture, Method and Myth: Richard Bensel's The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900." [Also available at University of Virginia's American Political Development website.]