Elizabeth Cobbs

Elizabeth Cobbs
Born	(1956-07-28) July 28, 1956 (age 68) Gardena, California
Occupation	Writer, lecturer, historian, professor, producer
Language	English
Citizenship	American
Education	Literature/writing
Alma mater	University of California, San Diego
Period	18th through 21st centuries
Genre	U.S. and Modern World History
Subject	History, Literature/Writing
Years active	1971–present
Notable works	Fearless Women, The Tubman Command, The Hello Girls, The Hamilton Affair, American Umpire, Broken Promises, The Rich Neighbor Policy, All You Need Is Love, Major Problems in American History
Notable awards	Allan Nevins Prize, Telly Award, Emmy Award, San Diego Book Award Start Bernath Prize
Spouse	James Shelley
Children	Gregory Shelby and Victoria Shelby
Website
elizabethcobbs.com

Elizabeth Cobbs is an American historian, commentator and author of nine books including three novels, a history textbook and five non-fiction works.^[1] She retired from Melbern G. Glasscock Chair in American History^[2] at Texas A&M University (2015-2023), following upon a four-decade career in California where she began working for the Center for Women's Studies and Services as a teenager. She writes on the subjects of feminism and human rights, and the history of U.S. foreign relations. She is known for advancing the controversial theory that the United States is not an empire, challenging a common scholarly assumption. She asserts instead that the federal government has played the role of “umpire” at home and abroad since 1776.^[3]

She is also credited as a screenwriter on the film adaptation of her book American Umpire,^[4][5][6][7] as a producer on the film adaptation of her book The Hello Girls, and as a screenwriter and producer of the public television documentary CyberWork and the American Dream: The History and Future of Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.^[8]

Biography

Elizabeth Cobbs was born on July 28, 1956 in Gardena, California. Cobbs studied literature at the University of California, San Diego and graduated summa cum laude in 1983. She earned her M.A. and PhD in American History from Stanford University in 1988. While at Stanford, she won the David Potter Award for Outstanding History Graduate Student. Following graduation, she won the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians for the Best Dissertation on U.S. History.^[9]

She taught nine years at the University of San Diego, becoming chair of the History Department, and then accepted the Dwight E. Stanford Chair in American Foreign Relations at San Diego State University. She has been a Fulbright scholar in Ireland and a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C and a Senior Fellow of Stanford's Hoover Institution.^[9][10][11]

Elizabeth Cobbs served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2008. She also served two terms on the Historical Advisory Committee of the US State Department from 1999 to 2006, advising on transparency in government and the declassification of top secret documents and transparency in government.

Professional background

Elizabeth Cobbs started her writing career at the age of 15 as a community organizer and publications coordinator for the Center for Women's Studies and Services in Southern California. During this period, she founded and headed several innovative projects for adults and young people supported partly by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. She received the international John D. Rockefeller Youth Award in 1979, at the age of 23 for her services to humanity.^[12]

Books and publications

Elizabeth Cobbs has written over 40 articles for media such as The Jerusalem Post, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Reuters, China Daily News, National Public Radio, Washington Independent, San Diego Union Tribune, The Washington Post, and several other publications. Her first nonfiction book was The Rich Neighbor Policy; she has since written five more books about American history and politics.^[4]

Cobbs also wrote and co-produced the PBS documentary American Umpire which is based on her book of the same name. It explores America's foreign policy "grand strategy" for the next 50 years.^[6]

Her first non-fiction book, The Rich Neighbor Policy, claimed the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians and also the Bernath Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.^[13]

The Rich Neighbor Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil

Yale University Press published The Rich Neighbor Policy in 1992. The book focuses on the activities of the manufacturing and financial magnates, Henry Kaiser and Nelson Rockefeller, in Brazil. The pair transferred American technology and techniques to enhance the development of Brazil.^[14]

All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s

Cobbs' second book is based on the people and politics behind the Peace Corps, and discusses themes of American idealism at work during the difficult realities of the second half of the twentieth century. All You Need is Love was published in October 1998.^[15][16]

Major Problems in American History, Volumes I and II

Major Problems in American History, in two volumes,^[17][18] introduces college undergraduates to the major events and phases of American history. As co-editor with Jon Gjerde and later Edward Blum, Cobbs has edited four editions of the book 2002 (Houghton-Mifflin, Cengage). ^[19][20]

Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War

Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War was published by Ballantine Books on March 29, 2011, the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter. The book won the San Diego Book Award and also Director's Mention for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction.^[21][22]

American Umpire

American Umpire, a reinterpretation of the United States' role in global affairs from 1776 to 2012, was published by Harvard University Press in March 2013.^{[23][24][25][26]}

The Hamilton Affair

Cobbs' novel The Hamilton Affair was published by Skyhorse Publishing in August 2016. The Hamilton Affair is based on the remarkable lives of Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza Schuyler, who survived him following his infamous duel with US vice-president Aaron Burr and raised their surviving seven children alone while helping other impoverished families.^[7]

The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers

Cobbs's The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers was published by Harvard University Press in 2017, the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I. The book chronicles the Hello Girls' service in France during World War I with the United States Army Signal Corps and their later battle to receive veterans benefits for their military service. ^[27]

The Tubman Command

Arcade/Skyhorse Publishing released Cobbs' historical novel The Tubman Command in May 2019.^[28] The work is a fictional retelling of the 1863 Combahee River raid on Confederate positions during the Civil War and the role of abolitionist Harriet Tubman in that military operation.^[29][30]

Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé

Cobbs' Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé was published by Harvard University Press in 2023. It argues that feminism was born in the American Revolution and has driven U.S. history since, influencing not only the global expansion of women's rights, but also the abolition of slavery, the spread of industrialization, the creation of a social safety net, and the doubling of the U.S. economy.^[31]

Awards, grants, and fellowships

Elizabeth Cobbs has received two literary prizes for American History and two for fiction.^[32] She is the recipient of Director's Mention for the 2009 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction,^[33] the 2009 San Diego Book Award for Broken Promise: A Novel of the Civil War Best Historical Fiction (Winner),^[32] the 1993 Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize, SHAFR, for the best first book on the history of U.S. foreign relations (winner).^[34]

Cobbs was a Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution from 2010 to 2020,^[35] held the 2003–2004 Fulbright Distinguished Professorship at University College Dublin, Ireland, the 1997 Bernath Lecture Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), a 1993 Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.,^[35] and the 1989 Allan Nevins Prize from Society of American Historians for Best Dissertation on U.S. History: The Rich Neighbor Policy.

Film awards

Elizabeth Cobbs has received film awards for co-producing or screenwriting three documentaries for public television, including a 2020 Los Angeles Regional Emmy Award for CyberWork^[36] and the American Dream, a 2020 Telly Award, Silver Medal, for CyberWork and the American Dream, a 2018 prize in the PBS competition “About Women and Girls Film Festival” for The Hello Girls, a 2018 Best Documentary Feature for CyberWork and the American Dream in the Los Angeles Film Award, Platinum for Best Documentary, and Best Short Documentary for American Umpire in the 2016 San Diego GI Film Festival.^[37][38]

Op-eds, journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries

• 2018: "Why the Pulitzer Prize committee keeps ignoring women's history," The Washington Post, April 13 ^[39]
• 2017: "'Hello Girls' answered our nation's call," Houston Chronicle, May 27 ^[40]
• 2017: "International Women's Day - American women behind, as usual," The Hill, March 7 ^[41]
• 2017; "Can History Prepare Us for the Trump Presidency?" Politico, January 22 ^[42]
• 2017: "Woodrow Wilson's woman problem, a case study for the Trump era," Los Angeles Times, January 18 ^[43]
• 2016: "Why today's victors don't want the spoils," San Diego Union, September 21 ^[44]
• 2016: "For U.S. foreign policy, it's time to look again at the founding fathers' 'Great Rule'," Los Angeles Times, July 4 ^[45]
• 2016: "Kuwait Showed the Value of Limited Intervention," The New York Times, February 28 ^[46]
• 2016: "Brexit vote has global consequences," San Diego Union, June 11 ^[47]
• 2015: "Why the U.S. Officially 'Believes' Pakistan's bin Laden Story," Reuters, May 20^[48]
• 2015: "Why the Letter to Iran Won't End Well for Republicans," Reuters, March 11^[49]
• 2015: "Why Boehner's Invite to Netanyahu is Unconstitutional," Reuters, March 2^[50]
• 2014: "Metaphor Meets Reality: U.S. and China Are Clearing the Air," Reuters, November 17^[51]
• 2014: "Avoid a Classic Blunder: Stay Out of Religious Wars in the Middle East," Reuters, September 16^[52]
• 2014: "The Sincerest Form of Flattery: The Peace Corps, The Helsinki Accords, and the Internationalization of Social Values," in Bruce J. Schulman. Making the American Century: Essays on the Political Culture of Twentieth Century America (New York: Oxford, 2014)^[53]
• 2014: "Court of Arbitration Could Help Solve Russia-Ukraine Crisis," San Diego Union, (March 26 )
• 2014: "Obama Must Escape the Cold War Syndrome," Chicago Tribune (Reuters). February 21 ^[54]
• 2014: "America's Long Search for Mr. Right," Reuters, February 12 ^[55]
• 2013: "Best Frenemies," Hoover Digest, January, reprinted from "Making Frenemies with Putin," Reuters, September 10 ^[56]
• 2013: "Room for Debate: For U.S., There's An Easy Distinction," The New York Times, September 4
• 2013: "Patriotism: Revolutionaries Were Original Patriots," San Diego Union, June 29
• 2013: "George Washington's Benghazi Blues," Jerusalem Post, May 26 ^[57]
• 2013: "Terrorism: Is American Imperialism Inviting It?" San Jose Mercury, May 3 ^[57]
• 2013: "China as Peacemaker," Reuters, March 27 ^[58]
• 2013: "Room for Debate: China, Japan, and South Korea's Turn," The New York Times, Op-Ed, March 13 ^[59]
• 2013: "Come Home, America," The New York Times, Op-Ed, March 5 ^[60]
• 2013: April 10, Elizabeth Cobbs debate Andrew Bacevich "Umpire or Empire"^[61]
• 2011: "Saddle Up for A Wild Western Ride, L'Amour Style," National Public Radio Website, "All Things Considered," May 16 ^[62]
• 2013:' "America's Civil War—and Syria's," San Diego Union, April 10 ^[63]
• 20101: "A Dangerous Neutrality," DisUnion Blog, The New York Times, The Opinion Pages, 12 May ^[64]
• 2010: "How I Became a Novelist and Lived (Learned) to Tell the Tale," Passport, SHAFR, April 2010: 22–23 ^[65]
• 2008: "The Ties That Bind: Personal Diplomacy in International Relations," Washington Independent, August 29
• 2008: "Spying: A US Psychic Dilemma" Washington Independent, June 20
• 2008: "When Did Talking Go Out of Style?" Washington Independent, June 4
• 2008: "The New Frontier" and "The Peace Corps," in Encyclopedia of the Cold War, Routledge: 626–627, 684–686
• 2006: "Returning to Containment," San Diego Union, March 8
• 2004: "John F. Kennedy and the Problem of Idealism," in John F. Kennedy: A Retrospective Look, Warsaw University Press (Poland): 119–125
• 2003: "The Peace Corps," in Poverty and Social Welfare in America: An Encyclopedia, ed. Gwendolyn Mink, et al., ABC-Clio: 530–531
• 2001: "Nothing Wrong With Teaching What's Right About U.S.," Los Angeles Times, December 30^[66]
• 2001: "Decolonization, the Cold War, and the Foreign Policy of the Peace Corps," in Empire and Revolution: The United States and the Third World since 1945. Columbus: Ohio State University, 2001: 123–153 ^[67]
• 2001: "The Assassins Revisited", San Diego Union, October 18
• 2001: The Oxford Companion to United States History, Oxford University Press, entry on "The Peace Corps:" 584
• 1999: "Playing the Role of Warrior and Priest," Los Angeles Times, April 11 ^[68]
• 1998: "Building Nations with the Peace Corps," San Diego Union, April 26 ^[69]
• 1997: "Diplomatic History and the Meaning of Life: Toward a Global American History," Diplomatic History. Fall 1997: 499–518 ^[70]
• 1996: "Decolonization, the Cold War and the Foreign Policy of the Peace Corps" Diplomatic History. Winter 1996: 79–105 ^[71]
• 1991: "U.S. Business: Self-Interest and Neutrality," in Abraham F. Lowenthal, ed., Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991: 264–295 ^[72]

References

1. "The San Diego Book Awards are back" by Volumes and Visions". SanDiegoUnionTribune.com. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
2. "Historian Who Pushed for the Tubman Twenty is Cheered by its Revival – The College of Arts & Sciences at Texas A&M University". liberalarts.tamu.edu. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
3. "American Umpire — Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman".
4. "Elizabeth Cobbs". Hoover Institution. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
5. "Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs". Hoffman. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
6. "Elizabeth Cobbs". American Umpire.
7. Wilkens, John (March 24, 2019). "Spring arts 2019 | Books: Catching up with historian Elizabeth Cobbs". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
8. "The Hello Girls" – via www.imdb.com.
9. "Book awards: Allan Nevins Prize | LibraryThing". LibraryThing.com. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
10. "Allan Nevins Prize, Book awards". LibraryThing.
11. "Past Winners of the David J. Langum Sr. Prize". The Langum – Charitable Trust. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012.
12. "Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman". Clements Center for National Security.
13. "PROFESSOR'S NAME – Department of History". Texas A&M University. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
14. Lowenthalspring 1993, Abraham F. (January 28, 2009). "The Rich Neighbor Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil". Foreign Affairs (Spring 1993).
15. "All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s". H-Net Reviews. October 22, 1998.
16. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (June 30, 2009). All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s – Elizabeth COBBS HOFFMAN. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674029606.
17. Cobbs, Elizabeth (2016). Major Problems in American History, Volume I: To 1877, Fourth Edition. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1305865297.
18. Cobbs, Elizabeth (2016). Major Problems in American History, Volume II: Since 1865, Fourth Edition. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1305585300.
19. Cobbs, Elizabeth; Blum, Edward J.; Gjerde, Jon (January 1, 2016). Major Problems in American History – Elizabeth Cobbs, Edward J. Blum, Jon Gjerde. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781305585300.
20. "Major Problems in American History Series – Higher Education". Google Books.
21. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (March 29, 2011). Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War. Random House Publishing. ISBN 9780345524560.
22. "Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War". Civil War Book Review. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
23. "Bernard von Bothmer: Review of Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman's "American Umpire" (Harvard, 2013)". History News Network.
24. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (March 4, 2013). American Umpire – Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674073814.
25. "American Umpire – Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman". Harvard University Press.
26. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (March 4, 2013). American Umpire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05547-6.
27. Yorker, The New (June 26, 2017). "Briefly Noted Book Reviews". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
28. Cobbs, Elizabeth (2019). The Tubman Command. Arcade/Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1948924344.
29. "Historian Who Pushed for the Tubman Twenty is Cheered by its Revival – The College of Arts & Sciences at Texas A&M University". liberalarts.tamu.edu. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
30. MARTIN, MICHEL (November 10, 2019). "'The Tubman Command' Author On Harriet Tubman As A Patriotic Veteran". NPR.
31. Combs, Seth (March 12, 2023). "Local historian Elizabeth Cobbs tells the stories of feminist heroines in 'Fearless Women'". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
32. ""The San Diego Book Awards are back" by Volumes and Visions | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com". August 4, 2016. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
33. "The Langum Charitable Trust - Past Winners of the David J. Langum Sr. Prize". June 30, 2012. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
34. "The Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize". members.shafr.org. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
35. "Elizabeth Cobbs". Hoover Institution. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
36. Choe, Brandon (July 19, 2020). "Los Angeles Area Emmy Winners Announced – KCET Leads The Competition With 8 Wins". Deadline. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
37. "WINNERS OF THE 2020 LOS ANGELES AREA EMMY® AWARDS ANNOUNCED" (PDF).
38. "Film Screening/Talk: "American Umpire"". Department of History, UC Santa Barbara.
39. "Perspective | Why the Pulitzer Prize committee keeps ignoring women's history". The Washington Post.
40. "Cobbs: 'Hello Girls' answered our nation's call". HoustonChronicle.com. May 27, 2017.
41. "International Women's Day — American women behind, as usual". March 7, 2017.
42. Magazine, Politico. "Can History Prepare Us for the Trump Presidency?". POLITICO Magazine.
43. "Op-Ed: Woodrow Wilson's woman problem, a case study for the Trump era". Los Angeles Times. January 18, 2017.
44. "Why today's victors don't want the spoils". San Diego Union-Tribune. September 21, 2016.
45. "Op-Ed: For U.S. foreign policy, it's time to look again at the founding fathers' 'Great Rule'". Los Angeles Times. July 4, 2016.
46. "Kuwait Showed the Value of Limited Intervention". www.nytimes.com.
47. "Brexit vote has global consequences". San Diego Union-Tribune. June 11, 2016.
48. "Why the U.S. officially 'believes' Pakistan's bin Laden story". Reuters. May 20, 2015. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015.
49. "Why the letter to Iran won't end well for Republicans". Reuters. March 11, 2015. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015.
50. "Why Boehner's invite to Netanyahu is unconstitutional". Reuters. March 2, 2015. Archived from the original on March 2, 2015.
51. "Metaphor meets reality: U.S. and China are clearing the air". Reuters. November 17, 2014.
52. "The Great Debate". Reuters. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
53. Making the American century : essays on the political culture of twentieth century America (Book, 2014). OCLC 863194633 – via WorldCat.org.
54. "Ukraine: Obama must escape the 'Cold War syndrome'". Reuters. February 21, 2014. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014.
55. "America's long search for Mr. Right". Reuters. February 12, 2014. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014.
56. "Making frenemies with Putin". Reuters. September 10, 2013. Archived from the original on September 13, 2013.
57. "George Washington Benghazi blues" (PDF). media.hoover.
58. "China as peacemaker". Reuters. March 27, 2013. Archived from the original on March 29, 2013.
59. "China, Japan and South Korea Need to Stand Up to North Korea". The New York Times.
60. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (March 4, 2013). "Come Home, America". The New York Times.
61. "American Umpire or Empire? – Late Night Live". ABC Radio National. April 10, 2013.
62. "Saddle Up for a Wild Western Ride, L'Amour Style". NPR.
63. "America's civil war provides lessons for Syria". SanDiegoUnionTribune.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
64. "Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman – Opinionator". The New York Times.
65. "Gold book" (PDF). training minds.
66. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (December 30, 2001). "Nothing Wrong with Teaching What's Right About U.S." Los Angeles Times.
67. Gingeras, Ryan (2014). Heroin, Organized Crime, and the Making of Modern Turkey – Ryan Gingeras. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198716020.
68. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (April 11, 1999). "A New World Disorder – Page 2". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016.
69. "Building nations with the Peace Corps; Column by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman". Peace Corps. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
70. Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs (1997). "Diplomatic History and the meaning of Life: Toward a Global American History – Hoffman – 2003 – Diplomatic History". Diplomatic History. 21 (4): 499–518. doi:10.1111/1467-7709.00086.
71. "Compilation of Periodical Literature: 1996". archives.gov. August 15, 2016. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
72. Lowenthal, Abraham (1991). Exporting Democracy. doi:10.56021/9780801841316. ISBN 9780801841323.

External links

• Official website
• Appearances on C-SPAN