Author of an acclaimed, mega-popular history book, Dr. Larry Schweikart is a retired professor at the University of Dayton. He has written and directed two documentary films. Fun fact: this academic once was a drummer in several rock bands!
For a bit in the 1970s you belonged to rock bands as a drummer. The gully between long-haired musician and Ph.D. historian is gaping. How went your transition?
I already had a B.A. in political science when I went on the road. When the band played in college towns, I was always drawn to the campus – University of Tampa, Notre Dame, Oklahoma. I had been disaffected with political science because it didn’t answer the questions I had about American history, especially about politics. So, when I decided to take a break from the road, I wanted to play music in Phoenix at night, but needed a day gig. I thought teaching would be easy, and I had a B.A., so all I needed for my teaching cred was a U.S. history class and a math class, both of which I got. The history class was amazing, and the prof, to whom I dedicated one of my books, was inspiring, and immediately I began to reorient toward a history career.
You’re quoted as attributing Aristotle, Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, George Gilder, and Paul Johnson as early intellectual influences. How were they impactful?
To be honest, I don’t really understand Voegelin (Not sure how many do) and barely understand Strauss. But I do understand where they were going. Gilder and Paul Johnson are brilliant “popularizers,” taking complex theories and making them understandable. Johnson knows more about more people than anyone I’ve ever met. Gilder really got me hooked on supply-side economics.
Across the academic writing spectrum, you’ve composed tomes for scholarly and lay readers, textbooks, and edited encyclopedias. Add to your résumé a pair of documentaries, including Rockin’ the Wall. What genus do you prefer?
Whichever pays. Seriously. Each has its attractions. Once in a while there is great satisfaction to getting so many obscure sources that you just know that what you’ve done is irrefutable . . . until someone comes along with a refutation. Encyclopedia work just paid the bills. I won’t lie about that. I loved every aspect of making our film, but the sequel and my second movie proved a much less satisfying project (probably because the money wasn’t there to finish it as we wanted). Video is the wave of the future, but every once in a while I read one of my own books because I just think it’s a good book and it entertains me.
Late Communist sympathizer Howard Zinn was showered with approbation for his revisionist historical perspective. Conversely, A Patriot’s History of the United States sought to make corrections. What was its unorthodox route to the bestseller list?
Well, we released the book in 2004, and it got good reviews in Wall Street Journal, and National Review. The New York Times also covered it. It found a good niche in the homeschool market, but gradually got adoptions in some 30 colleges and universities. (I regularly hear college students come up and say, “Oh, we used your book in our AP class.”) It hit a level from 2004-2010 as I wrote other books, and then I was asked to be on the Glenn Beck show and gave him a copy of the book. He hadn’t seen it, but took it home and read it over the weekend and fell in love with it. When he came back, he started holding it up on his show every night saying, “This is the best history book ever written.” But Mike Allen and I work on sales: we do dozens of speaking events a year, I used to do a lot of homeschool conventions, we do special sales through our website, etc.
Of 48 Liberal Lies which ones are most destructive, and why?
Easily the most destructive lie is that business failures caused the Great Depression and that FDR got us out of the Depression. It has been the staple of horrendous economic policy for decades.
Learn more about Dr. Larry Schweikart:
- Wikipedia page
- Twitter profile – @LarrySchweikart
- PatriotsHistoryUSA.com biography
- IMDb biography
- Rockin’ the Wall Films – “A Film and Video Production Company”
Check out some of his books:
- A Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’s Great Discovery to the War on Terror
- 48 Liberal Lies About American History (That You Probably Learned in School)
- A Patriot’s History of the Modern World, Vol. I: From America’s Exceptional Ascent to the Atomic Bomb: 1898-1945
- A Patriot’s History of the Modern World, Vol. II: From the Cold War to the Age of Entitlement, 1945-2012
- The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents, Part 1: From Washington to Taft
- Seven Events That Made America America: And Proved That the Founding Fathers Were Right All Along
- Halsey’s Bluff
- What Would the Founders Say?: A Patriot’s Answers to America’s Most Pressing Problems
- The Entrepreneurial Adventure: A History of Business in the United States
- American Entrepreneur: The Fascinating Stories of the People Who Defined Business in the United States
- America’s Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror
- September Day
Dr. Larry Schweikart is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, retired history professor, and former rock-band drummer.
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