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Dr. Michael Allen
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"When I was a little kid growing up in eastern Washington State, one of my favorite toys was a
jigsaw puzzle of the United States of America. I loved putting the different colored states
together, learning their names, and dreaming of someday visiting them all and learning all about
America. As it turned out, I have had the honor of being able to pursue a career in American
History and do just that. I am still working with that American puzzle."
Mike Allen was born and raised in Ellensburg, Washington. After serving with the U. S. Marines in Vietnam, he worked for three years as a towboat deckhand and cook on the
Mississippi River. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in early American history from, respectively,
Central Washington State College, University of Montana, and University of Washington. He has
taught at Tennessee Technological University, Deep Springs College, Montana State University,
Billings, and, since 1990, at UW Tacoma.
Mike Allen has published five books: WESTERN RIVERMEN, 1763-1861 (1990); FRONTIERS OF WESTERN HISTORY (1997, with Mary Hanneman); RODEO COWBOYS IN THE NORTH AMERICAN IMAGINATION (1998); A PATRIOT'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (with Larry Schweikart); and CONGRESS AND THE WEST, 1783- 1787 (forthcoming). Mike Allen is President of the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame. He lives in Tacoma with his wife Mary, and their children, Jim, Davy, and Caroline.
Personal: Married to Mary L. Hanneman, Ph.D., with three children, Jim, Davy, and Caroline
Education: Ph.D., History, University of Washington, Seattle, 1985 (Mentor: Professor W. J. Rorabaugh); M.A., History, University of Montana, 1977; B.A., History, Central Washington State College, 1974
Expertise: Early America; Frontier; American Studies (Early American Literature and Folklore); American Social; Pacific Northwest
Books: In progress: The Ellensburg Rodeo: A Biographical History
Forthcoming: Congress and the West, 1783-1787 (New York: Edwin Mellen Press) 2004
A Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’ Great Discovery to the War on Terror (New York: Sentinel [Penguin Group]), with Larry Schweikart
1999: Frontiers of Western History: Origins, Evolution, and Future of Western History, ed., with Mary L. Hanneman (Needham, Massachusetts: Simon and Schuster Custom Press); second ed. forthcoming
1998: Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination (Reno: University of Nevada Press), finalist for a Spur Award (Western Writers of America)
1990: Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990), winner of the Phi Alpha Theta Book Award
Selected Refereed Articles: “ ‘I Just Want to be a Cosmic Cowboy’: Hippies, Cowboy Code, and the Culture of a Counter-Culture” Western Historical Quarterly, forthcoming; “Ikua Purdy, Yakima Canutt, and Pete Knight: Tradition and Continuity Among Pacific Basin Rodeo Cowboys,” Journal of the West, forthcoming,; “Goin’ Down That Road: The Rodeo Movie Cowboy,” submitted; "Real Cowboys? The Origins and Evolution of North American Rodeo," Journal of the West, 37 (January 1998) 69-79; " 'When the Cowboys Are Indians and the Indians Are Cowboys': Plains and Plateau Indian Rodeo Riders in Literature," Pacific Northwest Forum 10 (Fall-Winter 1996), 94-111; “The ‘New’ Western History Stillborn,” The Historian (Fall 1994), 201-08; “‘Row Boatmen Row!,': Songs of the Early Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen,” Gateway Heritage (Missouri Historical Society) 14 (Winter 1993-94), 46-59; “Rise and Decline of the Early Rodeo Cowgirl: The Career of Mabel Strickland, 1916-41” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 83 (October 1992), 122-27; "The Ohio: Artery of Movement," in Robert L. Reid, ed., Always A River: The Ohio River and the American Experience (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991),105-29; "The Riverman As Jacksonian Man," Western Historical Quarterly, 21 (August, 1990), 305-20; "Justice For The Indians: The Federalist Quest," Essex Institute Historical Collections, 122 (April, 1986), 124-41; "Sired By A Hurricane: Mike Fink, Western Boatmen, and the Myth of the Alligator Horse," Arizona and the West, 27 (Autumn, 1985), 237-52; "The Lower Mississippi in 1803: The Travelers' View," Missouri Historical Review, 77 (April, 1983) 253-71; "Anti-Federalism and Libertarianism," Reason Papers, 7 (Spring, 1981), 73-94; "The Federalists and the West, 1783-1803," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 61 (October, 1978), 315-32; "Jay, Gardoqui, and the Mississippi River Debate, 1785-1787," Tennessee Historical Quarterly, 36 (Winter, 1977), 447-67
Selected Non-Refereed Articles: “Alligator Horses on the Old Mississippi,” The Waterways Journal 116 (August 19, 2002), 13-14; ibid., Part II (August 26, 2002);"Desert of Wheat: Zane Grey's Contemporary Western," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 91 (Fall 2000), 217-218; “Rodeo Tales,” Persimmon Hill (Winter, 2000); "Yakima Canutt: From Colfax to Hollywood," Columbia, Magazine of Northwest History (Summer 1998); "Cowboyphobia, or The Emperors Wear No Duds" Journal of the West, (Fall 1997); “Who Was David Crockett?,” in Whiteaker and Dickinson (eds.) Tennessee in American History (1996); “Ken Kesey’s Last Go-Round,” The Ketch Pen 8 (Rodeo History Society, 1996); '"Hard Day's Night': The Beatles' 1964 Seattle Concert," Columbia (Summer 1996), 6-11; “The Rodeo Cowboy in Art: A Sampler,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 86 (Winter 1996), 38-44; “Showdown at the PC Corral: Demise of the ‘New’ Western History,” Columbia 9 (Spring 1995), 3-5; “Beyond The ‘Endless Mountains’ The View From The Ohio River,” Queen City Heritage (Cincinnati Historical Society) 53 (Fall 1995), 33-39; “The Rodeo Art of Clifford P. Westermeier,” The Ketch Pen 7 (January 1995), 2-4; “Mabel Strickland, Rodeo Cowgirl,” Ibid., 6 (Dec-Jan 1993-94), 2-3; “Ellensburg’s Rodeo Grounds,” Ibid 6 (July 1993), 18-19; "Let 'er Buck! How the Ellensburg Rodeo Was Born," Columbia 5 (Summer, 1990), 10-12; "Historical Works on Early American Rivermen," Bookman's Weekly, 78 (Nov, 24, 1986), 2141-43; "Reminiscences of a Common Boatman, 1849-1851," Gateway Heritage 5 (Fall, 1984), 36-49; "Souvenirs of a Controversy: The Cook-Peary Postal Cards," Alaska Journal, 14 (Summer, l984), 54-57; "Life on the Mississippi--Towboat-Style," The Lookout, 74 (June-July, 1982), 13-16; Over fifty additional newspaper articles, essays, and short stories in Montana Magazine, Daily Missoulian (MT), Bridgeport,( Ill.) Leader and St. Francisville Times, Trenton (Ill.) Sun, Ellensburg Anthology, and Ellensburg Daily Record.
Book Reviews: Over fifty reviews in American Historical Review; Journal of American History; Western Historical Quarterly; Journal of Southern History; Journal of the Early Republic; Journal of the West; Pacific Northwest Quarterly; Oregon Historical Quarterly; Pacific Historical Review; Columbia, Magazine of Northwest History; American Neptune; Indiana Magazine of History; The Pickett Society Quarterly; Ohio Valley History; Tennessee Historical Quarterly; Gateway Heritage, Georgia Historical Quarterly, and others
Paper Presentations: Over thirty paper presentations, commentaries, and addresses at Western History Association; Pacific Northwest History Conference; Coast Branch, American Historical Association; Society of Historians of the Early American Republic; Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Regional Conference; Historic Natchez Foundation; Nebraska Historical Society Annual Meeting; Missouri Valley History Conference; Ohio Valley History Conference; and Mississippi Territory Bi-Centennial Conference
Honors and Awards: ASUWT President’s Excellence in Leadership and Service Award (2004); Finalist, Outstanding Teaching Award (UWT, 1993-5, 1999, 2001-03); Finalist, Spur Award (Western Writers of America, 1998); Faculty, Princeton University Freedom and Society Seminar, Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) (1995-97); UWT Founders Grant (1995); Exchange Professor Tacoma Community College (1994); Phi Alpha Theta Book Award (1992); F. Leroy Hill Fellowship, IHS at George Mason University (1991); Huntington Library Fellow (1986); Arthur A. Denny Graduate Fellow (1984); John Pine Memorial Award (Phi Alpha Theta 1984); Claude R. Lambe Fellowship, IHS (1984); Newberry Library Fellow (1984); Washington Pioneer Daughters Scholarship (1983); Phi Alpha Theta International Paper Prize Awards (1974 & 1976); Honors Graduate, Central Washington State College (1974)
Non-Academic Work Experiences and Other Interests: Artillery sergeant, United States Marine Corps, Vietnam (1969-70); Restaurant cook, 1970-74); Towboat deckhand, oil tankerman, and cook on Upper and Lower Mississippi, Illinois, St. Croix, Ouachita, and Arkansas rivers and the Gulf of Mexico (1977-81). Hobbies and interests include travel (every continent except South America), amateur magic, music (country and rock), collecting Americana, and being with my family.
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