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{{short description|American historian}}{{Infobox person
| name            = James E. McWilliams
| occupation      = Author, professor
| birth_date  = <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Birth-date and age|Month DD, YYYY}} -->
| birth_place = 
| nationality   = American
| education    = [[Georgetown University]] (<small>[[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]]</small>, 1991); [[Harvard University]] (<small>[[Master of Education|Ed.M.]]</small>, 1994); [[University of Texas at Austin]] (<small>[[Master of Arts|M.A.]]</small>, 1996); [[Johns Hopkins University]] (<small>[[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]]</small>, 2001)
| notable_works = ''Just Food: How Locavores are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly'' (2009), ''American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT'' (2008)
|children = 2
|website     = {{URL|http://www.txstate.edu/history/people/faculty/mcwilliams.html|James McWilliams: Texas State University}}
}}

'''James E. McWilliams''' (born November 28, 1968) is professor of history at [[Texas State University]]. He specializes in American history, of the colonial and early national period, and in the  environmental history of the United States. He also writes for ''[[The Texas Observer]]'' and the History News Service, and has published a number of op-eds on food in ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', and ''[[USA Today]]''. Some of his most popular articles advocate [[veganism]].

==Career==
He received his B.A. in philosophy from [[Georgetown University]] in 1991, his Ed.M. from [[Harvard University]] in 1994, his M.A. in American studies from the [[University of Texas at Austin]] in 1996, and his Ph.D. in history from [[Johns Hopkins University]] in 2001.<ref name=Blaschke>{{cite web |url= http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/03/HeittPrize031709.html |title= James McWilliams awarded Hiett Prize in the Humanities |last= Blaschke |first= Jayme |author-link= Jayme Lynn Blaschke |date= 2009-03-17 |website= [[Texas State University–San Marcos|Texas State University]] |access-date= 2013-07-11 |archive-date= 2015-09-09 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150909213206/http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/03/HeittPrize031709.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> He won the [[Walter Muir Whitehill]] Prize in Early American History awarded by the [[Colonial Society of Massachusetts]] for 2000,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/whitehill/winners.html |title= Whitehill Prize Past Winners |year= 2012 |website= [[Northeastern University]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207120915/http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/whitehill/winners.html|archive-date=2012-12-07|url-status= dead |access-date= 2013-07-09}}</ref> and won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in 2009.<ref name=AroundtheO>{{cite web|url=http://around.uoregon.edu/story/james-mcwilliams/%E2%80%9Ccontrarian-agrarian%E2%80%9D-challenges-assumptions-about-eating-sustainably |title='Contrarian agrarian' challenges assumptions about eating sustainably |date=2011-04-19 |editor-last=Mosley |editor-first=Joe |website=AroundtheO |publisher=[[University of Oregon]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118063239/http://around.uoregon.edu/story/james-mcwilliams/%E2%80%9Ccontrarian-agrarian%E2%80%9D-challenges-assumptions-about-eating-sustainably |archive-date=2013-01-18 |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-07-08 }}</ref> He has been a fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at [[Yale University]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13942-7/ |title= American Pests (book review) |website= [[Columbia University Press]] |location= [[New York City]] |access-date= 2013-07-08 |quote= a recent fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University.}}</ref>

McWilliams married on March 18, 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://marriagesintexas.com/1995/024334.html |title= James E McWilliams married Leila C Kempner on March 18, 1995 in Texas |website= Marriages in Texas, 1966–2010 |access-date= 2013-07-09 |archive-date= 2013-09-08 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130908022106/http://marriagesintexas.com/1995/024334.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> James lived in [[Austin, Texis]] with his wife and two children in 2009.<ref name=Blaschke/>

As late as 2013 McWilliams was stated to be an avid [[running|runner]]<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.txstate.edu/rising-stars/james_mcwilliams.html 
 |title=Rising Star James McWilliams 
 |last=King 
 |first=David 
 |website=[[Texas State University–San Marcos|Texas State University]] 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008054840/http://www.txstate.edu/rising-stars/james_mcwilliams.html 
 |archive-date=2013-10-08 
 |url-status=dead 
 |access-date=2013-07-09 
 |quote=He is an avid runner 
}}</ref> and a [[veganism|vegan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://james-mcwilliams.com/?p=4100 |title=The Importance of Being Unsure |last=McWilliams |first=James E. |author-link=James E. McWilliams |date=2013-06-23 |website=Eating Plants Blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231000340/http://james-mcwilliams.com/?p=4100 |archive-date=2013-12-31 |url-status=dead |access-date=2013-07-09 |quote=But, since becoming a vegan, I can sometimes see why the stereotype persists. }}</ref>

==Animal rights==

In 2015, McWilliams authored ''The Modern Savage: Our Unthinking Decision to Eat Animals'', a book supportive of [[animal rights]] and veganism. McWilliams criticizes the [[locavore]] movement, such as backyard and [[Extensive farming|nonindustrial farms]] which preach compassionate care of animals but slaughter them in the end.<ref name="Kirkus Reviews">[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-e-mcwilliams/the-modern-savage/ "The Modern Savage: Our Unthinking Decision to Eat Animals"]. ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]''. Retrieved October 6, 2020.</ref>

==Reception==

McWilliams' book ''A Revolution in Eating'' was positively reviewed by anthropologist [[Jeffrey Cole]] as an "engaging, creative, and informative account of food
in colonial British America."<ref>{{cite journal|year=2009|author=Cole, Jeffrey E.|title=A Review of "A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America"|journal=Food and Foodways |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07409710902925904|volume=17|issue=2|pages=133–135|doi=10.1080/07409710902925904|s2cid=162788272|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Historian Etta Madden also positively reviewed the book, commenting that "McWilliams's study of the production and consumption of food contributes to a great understanding
of the relationship between food and American identity."<ref>{{cite journal|year=2008|author=Madden, Etta|title=Reviewed Work: A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America by James E. McWilliams|journal=[[The New England Quarterly]]|volume=81|issue=4|pages=733–735|doi=10.1162/tneq.2008.81.4.733|s2cid=145634502}}</ref>

Biologist [[Marc Bekoff]] positively reviewed ''The Modern Savage'', as a "very thoughtful work about our meal plans in which he covers the ecological and ethical reasons for not eating nonhuman animals (animals)."<ref>Bekoff, Marc. (2015). [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/201504/the-modern-savage-new-book-questions-why-we-eat-animals "The Modern Savage: A New Book Questions Why We Eat Animals"]. Psychology Today. Retrieved October 6, 2020.</ref> [[Kirkus Reviews]] commented, "While McWilliams offers convincing arguments for animal rights, they are undermined by the extensive quotes, which become tiresome and offer little useful context."<ref name="Kirkus Reviews"/> McWilliams' views on agriculture, food production, and animal husbandry have been criticized by other authors in the space, including Joel Salatin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-04-17 |title=Joel Salatin responds to New York Times' 'Myth of Sustainable Meat' |url=https://grist.org/sustainable-farming/farmer-responds-to-the-new-york-times-re-sustainable-meat/ |access-date=2022-04-15 |website=Grist |language=en-us}}</ref> In her review in the Chicago Tribune, journalist Monica Eng questions McWilliams' "contrarian essays" that "play well in the land of page views, [but] don't always fare so well in terms of accuracy."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eng |first=Monica |title=Review: 'The Modern Savage' by James McWilliams |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-prj-modern-savage-james-mcwilliams-20150108-story.html |access-date=2022-04-15 |website=chicagotribune.com|date=8 January 2015 }}</ref>

==Publications==

===Books===
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= The Pecan: A History of America's Native Nut |url= http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/mcwpec |date= October 2013 |publisher= University Texas Press |isbn= 978-0-292-74916-0 |access-date= 2013-08-26 |archive-date= 2014-01-16 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140116142003/http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/mcwpec |url-status= dead }}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= The Politics of the Pasture |date= 2013-04-24 |publisher= [[Lantern Books]] |url= http://www.lanternbooks.com/detail.html?id=9781590563953|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210806002432/http://www.lanternbooks.com/detail.html?id=9781590563953|url-status= usurped|archive-date= August 6, 2021}}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ntqjF0BOISMC |date= 2009-08-15 |publisher= [[Little, Brown and Company]] |isbn= 978-0316033749 |oclc= 319868125 }}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT |url= https://archive.org/details/americanpestslos00mcwi |url-access= registration |quote= isbn:9780231139427. |date= 2008-06-17 |publisher= [[Columbia University Press]] |isbn= 978-0231139427 |oclc= 187394546 }}
**Review: {{Cite news |last=Wanner |first=Irene |date=2008-08-08 |title="American Pests": Our wrongheaded approach to insect control |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2008098741_americanpests10.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524190725/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2008098741_americanpests10.html |archive-date=2011-05-24 |work=The Seattle Times}}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= Building the Bay Colony: Local Economy and Culture in Early Massachusetts |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RBH5X9xumcoC |date= 2007-06-12 |publisher= [[University of Virginia Press]] |isbn= 978-0813926360 |oclc= 76820854 }}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= A Revolution In Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DxhuZ8uRt4UC&q=editions:uIl2f0HC0poC |series= Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History |date= 2005-06-01 |publisher= [[Columbia University Press]] |isbn= 978-0231129923 |oclc= 850974749 }}
*{{cite book |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |title= The Modern Savage: Our Unthinking Decision to Eat Animals |date= January 2015 |publisher= Thomas Dunne Books|isbn= 978-1-250-03119-8}}

===Peer-reviewed articles===
*“The horizon opened up very greatly.: Leland O. Howard and the Transition to Chemical Insecticides in the United States, 1894–1927” ''Agricultural History'' (Fall 2008).
* “Cuisine and National Identity in the Early Republic,” ''Historically Speaking'' (May/June 2006), 5–8.
*”African Americans, Native Americans, and the Origins of American Food,” The Texas Journal of History and Genealogy. Volume 4 (2005), pp.&nbsp;12–16.
* " 'how unripe we are': An Intellectual Construction of American Food,” ''Food, Society, and Culture'' (Fall 2005), pp.&nbsp;143–160.
*“‘To Forward Well-Flavored Productions’: The Kitchen Garden in Early New England.” ''The New England Quarterly'' (March 2004), p. 25-50.
*“Integrating Primary and Secondary Sources,” ''Teaching History'' (Spring 2004), pp.&nbsp;3–14.
*“The Transition from Capitalism and the Consolidation of Authority in the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1607–1760: An Interpretive Model,” ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' (Summer 2002), pp.&nbsp;135–152. 
*“New England’s First Depression: An Export-Led Interpretation,” ''The Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' (Summer 2002), pp.&nbsp;1–20 .
*“Work, Family, and Economic Improvement in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts Bay,” ''The New England Quarterly'' (September 2001), pp.&nbsp;355–384. (Winner of the 2000 Whitehill Prize in Colonial History  for the best essay published that year in colonial history).  
*“Brewing Beer in Massachusetts Bay, 1640–1690.” ''The New England Quarterly'' (December 1998), pp.&nbsp;353–384.

===Popular articles===
*{{cite news |title= Meat Makes the Planet Thirsty |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/meat-makes-the-planet-thirsty.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2014-03-08 |page= A19 |access-date= 2014-03-19 |quote=  Changing one’s diet to replace 50 percent of animal products with edible plants like legumes, nuts and tubers results in a 30 percent reduction in an individual’s food-related water footprint. Going vegetarian, a better option in many respects, reduces that water footprint by almost 60 percent. }}
*{{cite journal|last=McWilliams|first=James E.|author-link= James E. McWilliams|title=Loving Animals to Death|journal=The American Scholar|date=Spring 2014|url=http://theamericanscholar.org/loving-animals-to-death/#.UydONPldUoS|access-date=17 March 2014|quote=Identify an agrarian problem—greenhouse gas emissions, overuse of antibiotics and dangerous pesticides, genetically modified crops, salmonella, ''E. coli'', waste disposal, excessive use of water—and trace it to its ultimate origin and you will likely find an animal.}} 
*{{cite journal|last=McWilliams |first=James E. |author-link=James E. McWilliams |date=2013-07-03 |title=Radical Activism and the Future of Animal Rights |journal=[[Pacific Standard]] |access-date=2013-07-10 |url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/radical-activism-and-the-future-of-animal-rights-61789 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707110913/https://psmag.com/social-justice/radical-activism-and-the-future-of-animal-rights-61789 |archive-date=2013-07-07 |url-status=dead |quote=The most extreme activists have set aside the goal of helping animals to live better lives in order to attack those who do not join them in dreaming an impossible dream. }}
*{{cite journal |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |date= 2012-09-07 |title= Vegan Feud: Animal rights activists would accomplish a lot more if they stopped attacking the Humane Society |journal= [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date= 2013-07-09 |url= http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2012/09/hsus_vs_abolitionists_vs_the_meat_industry_why_the_infighting_should_stop_.single.html }}
*{{cite news |title= The Myth of Sustainable Meat |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/the-myth-of-sustainable-meat.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2012-04-13 |page= A31 |access-date= 2013-07-10 |quote= Although these smaller systems appear to be environmentally sustainable, considerable evidence suggests otherwise. }}
*{{cite journal |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |date= 2012-01-18 |title= The Evidence for a Vegan Diet |journal= [[The Atlantic]] |access-date= 2013-07-05 |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/the-evidence-for-a-vegan-diet/251498/ |quote= ... the assertion that veganism, when done right, isn't healthy is just plain bunk.}}
*{{cite journal |last= McWilliams |first= James E. |author-link= James E. McWilliams |date= 2011-12-21 |title= Hunting for Euphemisms: How We Trick Ourselves to Excuse Killing |journal= [[The Atlantic]] |access-date= 2013-07-09 |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/hunting-for-euphemisms-how-we-trick-ourselves-to-excuse-killing/250213/ |quote= [W]hen we tell ourselves that we're humanely harvesting venison out of reverence for the deer—rather than killing a sentient being to satisfy our palate—we're not so much connecting with our food as we are manipulating language to avoid knowing what we don't want to know.}}
*{{cite news |title= Bellying up to environmentalism |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-11-16/opinions/36905850_1_grass-fed-beef-meat-production-ground-beef |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130730180523/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-11-16/opinions/36905850_1_grass-fed-beef-meat-production-ground-beef |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2013-07-30 |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |date= 2009-11-16 |access-date= 2013-07-08 |quote= Until we make that leap, until we create a culinary culture in which the meat-eaters must do the apologizing, the current proposals will be nothing more than gestures that turn the fork into an empty symbol rather than a real tool for environmental change. }}
*{{cite news |title= Free-Range Trichinosis |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/opinion/10mcwilliams.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2009-04-10 |page= A23 |access-date= 2013-07-10 |quote= [S]cientists have found that free-range pork can be more likely than caged pork to carry dangerous bacteria and parasites. }}
*{{cite news |title= Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2008-11-17 |page= A27 |access-date= 2013-07-10 |quote= Last year, for instance, the F.D.A. reported that millions of Americans had eaten chicken fattened on feed with melamine-tainted gluten imported from China. }}
**{{cite news|title=Readers' Comments on 'Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem' |url=http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html?sort=oldest |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2008-11-17 |access-date=2013-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026002823/http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html?sort=oldest |archive-date=2012-10-26 |url-status=dead }} (105 Readers' Comments)
*{{cite news |title= Food That Travels Well |first= James E. |last= McWilliams |author-link= James E. McWilliams |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/opinion/06mcwilliams.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2007-08-06 |access-date= 2013-07-11 |quote= [L]amb raised on New Zealand's clover-choked pastures and shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton }}
**{{cite news |title= Readers' Comments on 'Food That Travels Well' |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/opinion/l12food.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 2007-08-06 |access-date= 2013-07-11 }}
*[https://www.theatlantic.com/james-mcwilliams/ List of McWilliams' articles in The Atlantic]
*[https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/by%2520James%2520E.%2520McWilliams/ List of McWilliams' articles in The New York Times]

== See also ==
*[[List of vegans]]
*[[Food studies]]
*[[Veganism]]
*[[Animal protectionism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.txstate.edu/history/people/faculty/mcwilliams.html McWilliams' official faculty page at Texas State] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504072624/http://www.txstate.edu/history/people/faculty/mcwilliams.html |date=2011-05-04 }}
*[http://james-mcwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CV-McWilliams-20121.pdf McWilliams' Curriculum Vitae] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140215104232/http://james-mcwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CV-McWilliams-20121.pdf |date=2014-02-15 }}
*[http://james-mcwilliams.com/ McWilliams' blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611085223/http://james-mcwilliams.com/ |date=2013-06-11 }}
*[http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/whitehill/ Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207120920/http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/whitehill/ |date=2012-12-07 }}

{{People in veganism and vegetarianism}}
{{Portalbar|Biography|History}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, James E.}}
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:21st-century American historians]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American animal rights scholars]]
[[Category:American food writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American non-fiction environmental writers]]
[[Category:American veganism activists]]
[[Category:Food historians]]
[[Category:Georgetown University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scholars of veganism]]
[[Category:Texas State University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni]]