John Davenport (1960-) Biography

Born 1960, in San Francisco, CA; Education: San Francisco State University, B.A., 1990; University of Connecticut, M.A., 1991, Ph.D., 1999. Hobbies and other interests: Archery, fishing.

Career

Social studies and language arts teacher at St. Raymond Elementary School, Menlo Park, CA, 1997-02, and Corte Madera Middle School, Portola Valley, CA, beginning 2002. Military service: U.S. Army, 1978-82.

Member

American Historical Society, Society for History Education, National Council for the Social Studies.

Writings

Saladin, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2003.

The U.S.-Mexico Border: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

The Mason-Dixon Line, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

C. S. Lewis, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

The Louisiana Territory, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Mark Stafford, W. E. B. Du Bois: Scholar and Activist, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004; Mary Lawler, Marcus Garvey: Black Nationalist Leader, Chelsea House, 2004; and Terry Bisson, Nat Turner: Slave Revolt Leader, Chelsea House, 2004. Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of History and Retrospection.

Work in Progress

The Young Readers' Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why Book of the Holocaust.

Sidelights

John Davenport is a middle-school history teacher and the author of several educational books for young readers, including Saladin, The U.S.-Mexico Border: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo, and The Mason-Dixon Line, all of which focus on the history of North America. In addition, Davenport's biography C. S. Lewis sheds light on the life of the twentieth-century English author noted for penning the popular "Chronicles of Narnia." The author's overall goal in writing is to further educate today's youth by providing young people with a broader view of their place in the world and a sense of how they can impact the ever-forming history of tomorrow.

Davenport told Something about the Author: "I write in order to communicate to young people the joy and sorrow, the triumph and tragedy of human life. My hope is that my readers will come to appreciate, by examining the lives of other people at other times, the full richness of their own existence. I strive, moreover, to help my audience locate itself within the historical sweep of the larger society and culture they will someday inherit. Taken together, I work to give young people a better sense of themselves and their place in the world. This task, this challenge drives my pen through its strokes."