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Biography
Curriculum Vitae (164.13 KB)I teach and write about the political, economic, and metropolitan history of the modern United States. I became a professional historian after spending the early years of my career working in national politics and policymaking, an experience that showed me the critical role of historical knowledge in understanding the present and informing the future. My research, teaching, and work with people and organizations beyond academia is inspired and shaped by my desire to make history relevant, exciting, and central to the way we understand our world. At the UW, I offer undergraduate and graduate courses on modern America, political history, urban history, and economic history.
My research focuses on the high-tech industry, American politics, and the connections between the two. I am the author of Cities of Knowledge (Princeton, 2005), which explored how Silicon Valley came to be and what the Cold War had to do with it, as well as a number of articles and book chapters examining the intersections of politics, technology, and place. My second book, Pivotal Tuesdays (University of Pennsylvania, 2015) grew out of my History Lecture Series I delivered here at the UW the fall of 2012. It explores four game-changing Presidential elections of the 20th century (1912, 1932, 1968, 1992) and places these campaign sagas in broader social and cultural context. My newest book is a history of the technology industry from the 1940s to the present, titled The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (Penguin Press, 2019).
I collaborate with faculty, students, and staff across the UW and the Seattle region as co-chair of the Washington Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network and as a founding member of Urban@UW, a university-wide initiative dedicated to inclusive, data-driven innovation for the future of cities. I am also a faculty affiliate of the West Coast Poverty Center, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, and an advisory board member for Startup Hall. My professional affiliations beyond the UW have included leadership roles in the Social Science History Association and the Urban History Association, speaking to a wide range of groups as an OAH Distinguished Lecturer, and serving as a fellow of the National Forum on the Future of Liberal Education.
More information and links to selected publications, syllabi, and past public speaking can be found on my personal website, margaretomara.com.
