Philip A. Klinkner

Who is Philip A. Klinkner?

Philip A. Klinkner is an American political scientist, blogger and author. He is noted for his work on American politics, especially political parties and elections, race and American politics, and American political history.

Klinkner is currently the James S. Sherman Professor of Government at Hamilton College, where he has also served in administrative positions. Originally from Iowa, he graduated from Lake Forest College before attending Yale University for M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science. In 1990-1991, he was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution and he served as a guest scholar there in 1993 and 1995. In 1995, he received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Political Organizations and Parties Section of the American Political Science Association.

In The Unsteady March, Klinkner and Rogers Smith argue America's record of race relations cannot be categorized as consistent, gradual advancement towards equality but rather as a series of dramatic moments where multiple factors aligned to advance or hinder progress. The book was the winner of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute's Horace Mann Bond Book Award and was named as a semifinalist for the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.