Chris Fobare is a political historian of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era, with a particular interest in party ideologies, third party movements, and state-building. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research focuses on the question of periodization and its impact on professional and popular historical narratives of Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era as viewed through the lens of a generational framework. In addition to reviewing many scholarly monographs, his scholarship has appeared in New York History—the journal of the New York State Historical Association.
His curriculum vitae, student evaluations, student comments on previously taught courses, and other information about his teaching and research are available under the Professional Portfolio section of the navigation bar at the top of the screen.
His countless hours of thinking, discussing, and refining history content for college students also inspired this website. To that end, the History Resources section in the navigation bar offers primary and secondary source resources valuable for the college history classroom.
Current Projects and Research
Currently, I am working on a book manuscript: “A Generational Divide: The Reconstruction of American Party Politics, 1865-1912.” Employing a generational framework that moves beyond the traditional temporal periodization of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the study positions the Third American Party System (the Republican and Democratic Parties) as an extension of the developing American nation’s transition from an agricultural to an industrial political economy.
Teaching
Chris Fobare has taught a variety of American history survey courses and upper-level seminars at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester State University, Springfield College, and Utica University. Click here to access a complete list of course descriptions and selected examples of sample syllabi from his courses.
Teaching evaluations and student comments are available here.