Woody Holton

Abner Linwood Holton III is the son of former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton. His sister, former Virginia First Lady Anne Holton, is the wife of U.S. Senator and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 2016. He earned a B.A. in English at the University of Virginia, where he wrote for The Cavalier Daily, in 1981. He received his Ph.D. in history from Duke University in 1990.

Holton worked for several years on behalf of environmental causes. In 1990, he created Clean Up Congress (CUC), a political action committee described by OpenSecrets.org as "Democrat/liberal" group.[2] In 1994, CUC waged a campaign to defeat Oliver North's bid for Virginia's Senate seat (North lost by 3% of the vote to Chuck Robb).[3][4][5]

From 1981 to 1983, he served as a legislative aide in the Virginia General Assembly for Delegate Robert T. Andrews (R-McLean). Characterized in the Washington Post as an energetic "young tiger", he helped Andrews draft and win the enactment of Virginia's first child safety seat law, changes to the Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) for post-conviction referral, and other legislation.

He began teaching at the University of Richmond in 2000 as an assistant professor, rising to professor in 2011. His essay titled "Divide et Impera: The Tenth Federalist in a Wider Sphere" was selected for inclusion in Best American History Essays 2006 by the Organization of American Historians. He published Unruly Americans in 2007.[6] Holton's Abigail Adams was awarded the Bancroft Prize for 2010.[7] The book focuses on the role of creditors and bond speculators in the creation of the US Constitution by examining the financial acumen of one of America's earliest and most aggressive female investors.[8]

In July 2012, Holton became the McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, though he remained in Richmond for another year on a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.[9]

Holton is married to Gretchen Schoel, a student of the impact of the internet on intercultural communication. They have a daughter, Beverly Holton and a son, Henry Holton.

• 2000 Merle Curti Award from the Organization of American Historians for Forced Founders[10]
• 2007 National Book Award finalist for Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution[11]
• 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship[12]
• 2010 Bancroft Prize for Abigail Adams[13]

• Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, University of North Carolina Press for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1999, ISBN 978-0-8078-4784-8
• Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution, Macmillan, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8090-8061-8
• Abigail Adams, Simon and Schuster, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4165-4680-1
• Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era: A Brief History with Documents, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009, ISBN 978-0-312-41359-0
• Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution Simon & Schuster, 2021, ISBN 978-1-476-75037-8

• Appearances on C-SPAN