Michael O'Brien

Michael O'Brien (13 April 1948 – 6 May 2015) was an English historian, specialising in the intellectual history of the American South. He was Professor of American Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge from 2005 to 2015.

Life Michael O'Brien was born in Plymouth, and was educated at Devonport High School in the city. He was an undergraduate and research student at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and studied for a further postgraduate degree at Vanderbilt University.

Awards Woodward-Franklin Award for the Writing of Southern History, from the Fellowship of Southern Writers (2013) Fellow of the British Academy (2008). 2005 Merle Curti Award Bancroft Prize, Columbia University Frank L. and Harriet C. Owsley Award, Southern Historical Association C. Hugh Holman Award, Society for the Study of Southern Literature American Studies Network Book Prize Nominated Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History Nominated Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography