John M. Findlay

John M. Findlay became Professor Emeritus in December 2020.

John M. Findlay works on the history of the North American West and Pacific Northwest. He has written especially on social and urban history, with a particular focus on the 20th century. His books include People of Chance: Gambling in American Society from Jamestown to Las Vegas (Oxford University Press, 1986); Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture after 1940 (University of California Press, 1992); Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West, with Bruce Hevly (University of Washington Press, 2011); and The Mobilized American West, 1940-2000 (University of Nebraska Press, 2023).

Professor Findlay has written articles and chapters on such topics as Indian reservations in 19th-century California; utopianism in the American West; regional identity and literature in the Pacific Northwest; Euro-American contact with Natives in the Great Basin; world's fairs of Washington state; the nuclear West; the history of the University of Washington; and the historiography of the American West.

He has also co-edited three multi-author volumes that had their origins as symposia at the University of Washington's Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest: The Atomic West, eds. Bruce Hevly and John M. Findlay (1998); Power and Place in the North American West, eds. Richard White and John M. Findlay (1999); and Parallel Destinies: Canadians, Americans, and the Western Border, eds. John M. Findlay and Ken Coates (2002). Professor Findlay has supported other people's research and teaching about the Pacific Northwest by serving as Managing Editor of Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 1992-2003 and 2008-2015, and as Director of the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest (1991-99, 2005-6). Professor Findlay also served as Chair (2002-7, 2010-11) and Associate Chair (2011-12) of the UW Department of History.

Graduate Students

Professor Findlay is not taking on new graduate students.

Undergraduate Students