Henry William Brands Jr. is an American historian and author, currently holding the Jack S. Blanton Sr.

Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is recognized for authoring more than thirty books on U.S.

history, and his works have twice been selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Brands joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005, following seventeen years at Texas A&M University, and a year at Vanderbilt University.