Robert W. Thurston (born 1949)^[1] is an American historian and author. He is professor emeritus at Miami University. His most recent publication is The Body in the Anglosphere, 1880-1920: "Well Sexed Womanhood," Finer Natives," and " Very White Men 2022 from Routledge. The book examines concepts of gender, sexuality, race, and civilization as they were affected by new ideas, close interaction between races, and new technology like photography. He has an article on lynching forthcoming in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Crime and Criminal Justice'.' He has also written on coffee (Coffee: From Bean to Barista, Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry). Perhaps primarily known for his work on the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, Thurston has also written on early modern witch hunts (The Witch Hunts in Europe and North America: A History of the Witch Persecutions in Europe and North America, a revised edition of Witch, Wicce, Mother Goose: The Rise and Fall of the Witch Hunts in Europe and North America).^[2] He is also co-founder and managing partner of the Oxford Coffee Company, a roastery and coffeehouse in Oxford, Ohio.^[3]

His current research has the working title "1794: War, Rebellion, and the Making of Federal Power."

He has given talks in recent years in the U.S., Britain, France, Nicaragua, and China on coffee and consumption patterns. He has been interviewed regularly on coffee, for example for BBC Four, Food Network, and Dr. Oz The Good Life. His trips to coffee "origin", the industry term for coffee farms, have taken him to ten countries. He has been interviewed several times on WVXU, Cincinnati's NPR station, on several topics ranging from populism to coffee to the history of land preservation in the U.S.

He has written occasionally on current issues in Ukraine and on how people get their history from romance novels.

His blog is Not Your Party Line Historian.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., Thurston graduated from high school outside of Cleveland and received his undergraduate education at Northwestern University,^[3] studying Russian to complement his history degree. He went on to earn a doctorate in modern Russian history from the University of Michigan. He spent two separate years doing research in the Soviet Union/Russia and eventually moved to Oxford, Ohio, where he taught history at Miami University for 25 years until his retirement in 2015.^[3]

In 2012, Thurston co-founded the Oxford Coffee Company, a roastery, in Oxford, Ohio.^[3]