Kevin Starr

Kevin Starr (born September 3, 1940) is an American historian, best known for his multi-volume series on the history of California, collectively called "Americans and the California Dream."

Life

Kevin Starr was born in San Francisco, California. Starr received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of San Francisco in 1962. From 1962 to 1964 he served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant in the 68th Armored Brigade in then-West Germany. He then earned an MA degree in 1965 and PhD from Harvard University in 1969 in American Literature. He taught American Literature until 1973, and then moved to California where he has lived since 1974. He received an M.L.S. degree from the School of Librarianship, University of California, Berkeley, in 1974 while he was San Francisco City Librarian. From 1974 to 1989 he was professor or visiting lecturer at numerous California universities, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Santa Clara University, the University of San Francisco, and Stanford University. In 1989 Starr became Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Southern California, and was promoted to University Professor of History in 1998. Starr sometimes teaches at the USC State Capital Center in Sacramento, California.