John Willingham

John Willingham is an American writer and editor known for his collections of reviews about honors programs at public universities in the United States,[2][3] for his essays about history, literature, politics, and religion,[4] and for The Edge of Freedom: A Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution.[5][6] The Revolution was his subject once more in his paper "Should We Forget the Alamo?: Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution (2023).[7] In 2011, he founded and became editor of Public University Honors, a website that evaluates more than 50 college honors programs and provides information about honors programs in general.[2][8]

John Willingham
John Willingham, 2011
Born
Waco, Texas, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Occupations
  • Writer
  • editor
  • historian
Known forThe first and only in-depth quantitative evaluations of public university honors programs; essays on Texas history and literature; historical novels set in Texas
Websitehttps://www.johnwillingham.net/

He is opposed to numerical rankings of colleges or honors programs, asserting in the 2018 edition that "Rankings presume a perfection that they cannot meet." His reviews place programs in groups, with the top group of 10 or so receiving the highest rating.

Willingham has been a contributor to the History News Network, which has published about two dozen of his essays and opinion pieces.[4] During the same period, his work appeared in a variety of publications including The Texas Observer online,[9] Religion Dispatches,[10] and the San Antonio Express-News.[11]

Born in Waco, Willingham graduated from Richfield High School and holds a bachelor's degree with honors and a master's degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin.[6] He served as McLennan County, Texas, elections administrator from 1984 through 1992, and Williamson County, Texas, Elections Administrator from 1993 through 2009.[6] In September 1998, he served as an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election coordinator for the general election in the district of Brcko, under the dual sovereignty of Bosnia and Serbia. During 2001–05, he was a member of the National Task Force on Election Reform. Assisted by funding related to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the task force worked to improve the security and integrity of U.S. elections.[12]

Publications

Non-fiction books
  • A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs, Public University Press, 2014[13]
  • Inside Honors: Ratings and Reviews of Sixty Public University Honors Programs, Public University Press, 2016[14]
  • Inside Honors 2018-2019: Ratings and Reviews of 50 Public University Honors Programs, Public University Press, 2018[15]
  • Inside Honors 2020-2021: Ratings and Reviews of 40 Public University Honors Programs, Public University Press, 2020[16]

Novels
  • The Edge of Freedom, A Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution, Inkwater Press, 2011[17]
  • The Last Woman, TCU Press, 2025 (forthcoming)

Selected Op-Eds
  • "Gail Collins Almost Remembers the Alamo", HNN, 2012.[18]
  • "Glenn Beck’s Christianity and Abraham Lincoln’s Religion, HNN, 2010[19]
  • "Historical Fiction and the 'Gaps' in Academic History", HNN, 2011[20]
  • "J.H. Plumb Would Be Aghast at Today's Distorted History", HNN, 2011[21]
  • "Rick Perry's War on Higher Ed in Texas, HNN, 2011[22]
  • "Paul Ryan's Hijacking of Natural Rights", HNN, 2012[23]
  • "Sarah Palin and the Static God", Religion Dispatches, 2010[10]
  • "Waco: The City Where the Waco Siege Didn't Actually Happen", HNN, 2013[24]
  • "White College Grads Preferred Donald Trump; This Raises the Question, What Happened to Critical Thinking?", HNN, 2016[25]
  • "Do a Majority of Republicans Really Distrust Higher Education?", HNN, 2017[26]
  • "What's Driving the Latest Texas History Wars?", HNN, 2022[27]

Literary and Academic Publications
  • "Summertime Passing", Southwest Review, short story, 1975[28]
  • "John Graves, Larry McMurtry, and the Nature of Goodbyes", Southwest Review, essay, 2015[29]
  • "Paulette Jiles and the Aura of the News", essay, San Antonio Review, 2021[30]
  • "The Real Sickness in America", essay, San Antonio Review, 2022[31]
  • "Should We Forget the Alamo? Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution", essay, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 2023[32]

See also

References
  1. Huddleston, Scott (March 25, 2011). "Remembering the 'Goliad Massacre'". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  2. Bruni, Frank (August 8, 2015). "A Prudent College Path". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  3. Berlinerblau, Jacques (August 26, 2017). "Starting a college admission search? Here are a professor's tips". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  4. "John Willingham". History News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  5. Bob, Cavendish (April 2012). "The Edge of Freedom: a Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 115 (4): 428–429. doi:10.1353/swh.2012.0028. JSTOR 41617051. S2CID 144161340.
  6. Smith, J. B. (March 16, 2011). "Former McLennan Elections Official John Willingham to Sign Copies of His Book". Waco Tribune-Herald. BH Media Group. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  7. Board, Editorial (June 4, 2023). "Texas historical association is a treasure. Its future is under threat". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  8. "Public University Honors". Public University Honors. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  9. Willingham, John (October 12, 2010). "At Glenn Beck University, Hatred is the Curriculum". Retrieved December 12, 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Sarah Palin and the Static God". Religion Dispatches. University of Southern California Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication. May 20, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  11. Willingham, John (April 21, 2011). "Post San Jacinto: Gratification, Ire for Houston". San Antonio Express News. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  12. "Election 2004: Review and Recommendations by the National Election Administrators" (PDF). The Election Center. 2005. pp. i–iv. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  13. Willingham, John (2014-10-16). A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs with Additional Reviews of Five Regional Public University Honors Programs (2 ed.). WorldCat. ISBN 978-0692314869. OCLC 895669960.
  14. Willingham, John (2016). Inside Honors: Ratings and Reviews of Sixty Public University Honors Programs. ISBN 978-0692783818.
  15. Willingham, John (2018). Inside Honors 2018-2019: Ratings and Reviews of 50 Public University Honors Programs. ISBN 978-0692195253.
  16. Willingham, John (2020). Inside Honors 2020-2021: Ratings and Reviews of 40 Public University Honors Programs. ISBN 979-8690412166.
  17. Willingham, John (2011). The Edge of Freedom, A Fact-Based Novel of the Texas Revolution. Portland, Oregon: Inkwater Press. ISBN 978-1592994465. OCLC 701811425.
  18. "Gail Collins Almost Remembers the Alamo". History News Network. June 22, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  19. "Glenn Beck's Christianity and Abraham Lincoln's Religion". History News Network. September 13, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  20. "Historical Fiction and the 'Gaps' in Academic History". History News Network. February 6, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  21. "J.H. Plumb Would Be Aghast at Today's Distorted History". History News Network. August 21, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  22. "Rick Perry's War on Higher Ed in Texas". History News Network, June 19, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  23. "Paul Ryan's Hijacking of Natural Rights". History News Network. August 27, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  24. "Waco: The City Where the Waco Siege Didn't Actually Happen". History News Network. April 9, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  25. "White College Grads Preferred Donald Trump; This Raises the Question, What Happened to Critical Thinking?". History News Network. December 25, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  26. "Do a Majority of Republicans Really Distrust Higher Education?". History News Network. July 23, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  27. "What's Driving the Latest Texas History Wars?". History News Network. October 2, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  28. Willingham, John (Summer 1975). "Summertime Passing". Southwest Review. 60 (3): 234–43. JSTOR 43471219.
  29. Willingham, John (Summer 2015). "John Graves, Larry McMurtry, and the Nature of Goodbyes". Southwest Review. 100 (3): 297–306. JSTOR 43821049.
  30. Willingham, John (Summer 2021). "Paulette Jiles and the Aura of the News". San Antonio Review. 1 (5). Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  31. Willingham, John (Summer 2022). "The Real Sickness in America". San Antonio Review. 6 (1). doi:10.21428/9b43cd98.b5b76637. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  32. Willingham, John (2023). "Should We Forget the Alamo? Myths, Slavery, and the Texas Revolution". Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 126 (4): 467–493. doi:10.1353/swh.2023.0028. S2CID 257918480. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
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