Robert Slayton

Henry Salvatori Professorship in American Values and Traditions; Professor of History; Wang-Fradkin Professorship in Scholarly Excellence (2002-2004) 1988 - present

Roosevelt Hall 114, Chapman University, 1 University Dr., Orange, CA 92866
714-997-6969
slayton@chapman.edu
B.A., State University of New York, Buffalo; M.A., Ph.D., Northwestern University. 

Robert Slayton is the author of seven books, including Back of the Yards (University of Chicago Press) and New Homeless and Old (Temple University Press), and Master of the Air (University of Alabama Press). Back of the Yards got chosen by Choice, the library journal, as one of its "Outstanding Books" of that year, while New Homeless was awarded Honorable Mention for the Paul Davidoff Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. His major work is Empire Statesman (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster), a biography of Alfred E. Smith, 1928 presidential candidate and the first Roman Catholic to run for the nation's highest office. This work was endorsed by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Caro, who called it "vivid and insightful;" while Hasia Diner, holder of the Steinberg Chair at New York University, referred to it as an "exemplary biographical narrative." It has been reviewed in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and in the New Yorker; the listing on Smith in Wikipedia cites Empire Statesman as the standard biographical work on this figure. He has also received the Wang-Fradkin Award, Chapman University's highest honor. At the present time he is working on two other books, including a study of the Ashcan School of Art. His courses include the second half of the U.S. Survey and Senior Seminar, African-American  History, Everyday Life in America, period courses on 1920-1945 (Conflict and Change in America) and 1945-1960 (American After the War) as well as World War II.

Dr. Slayton's publications you can find on Amazon

Master of Air: William Tunner and the Success of Military Airlift
University Alabama Press, (2010)

Empire Statesman
Free Press, (2007)

Arms of Destruction
Citadel, (2004)

New Homeless and Old
Temple University Press, (1990)

Back of the Yards
University of Chicago Press, (1988)