Richard Beeman is a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of several books on the history of revolutionary America; his biography of Patrick Henry was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received awards from, among others, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he has served as Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University. Professor Beeman also serves as a trustee and vice-chair of the Distinguished Scholars Panel of the National Constitution Center. He lives in Philadelphia.