John L. Larson
- Professor // History
Office and Contact
Email: larsonjl@purdue.edu
Specialization
U.S. History, U.S. Political and Early National, U.S. Business, U.S. Environmental History
Professor Larson is an Iowan by birth and may one day become a Hoosier when his probationary period is up. He studied history at Luther College and Brown University. Before coming to Purdue in 1983 he served as Director of Research at Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement and taught at Earlham College. From 1994 to 2004 he was coeditor, with Michael A. Morrison, of the Journal of the Early Republic. His publications include Bonds of Enterprise: John Murray Forbes and Western Development in America's Railway Age (1984), Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States (2001), The Market Revolution in America (2010), and Laid Waste: The Culture of Exploitation in Early America (2019).