My doctoral dissertation was a critical biography of an obscure (and not very good) nineteenth-century American poet named Daniel Bryan. That's one of the nice things about American Studies—if I had majored in English, I would have had to focus on a great writer. But since bad writers can tell you as much about their culture as great ones (and sometimes more), I could become the world's foremost authority on Daniel Bryan. I still am. When the editors of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography needed someone to write an entry for Bryan, they asked me. I was only too glad to do so. You can read my one-page entry on Bryan in Volume 2, published in 2001.

Incidentally, my B.A. and M.A. degrees are in English from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, the second-oldest university in the United States (after Harvard). Phi Beta Kappa, too (Alpha Chapter of Virginia). Not to blow my own horn but, hey, you asked.

OK, I admit I provided a little more information than the question called for.