Bradley J. Birzer is the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Professor of History, Hillsdale College, where he has taught for 27 years. Co founder of The Imaginative Conservative, Birzer also spent the 2014-2015 academic year as the visiting chair of conservative thought at CU-Boulder. Birzer has authored several books including The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson, the award winning Russell Kirk: American Conservative, American Cicero: The Life and Times of Charles Carroll, and In Defense of Andrew Jackson. He has two books coming out this year: The Declaration of Independence: 1776 and All That in May, and Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West in November. Birzer has been reviewed favorably in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times. He and his wife, Dedra (also an academic) have seven children, one dog, and five cats.