Name: Nick Sly
Year in program: 6th
ABD Y/N: Yes
Primary supervisor: Lisa Fine
Major field: U.S. Social and Cultural
Minor fields: Labor, Education
My dissertation is on the textbook industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through a careful analysis of the internal documents of boards of education, the company ABC, and public controversies in the news I argue that consolidation in the industry made change to the textbook difficult. What underlay the concerns over content of textbooks were a handful of companies and authors. While scholars of textbook history focus on the conciliations made to groups like the American Legion and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, my work focuses on the resistance amongst publishers to satisfy the public demands for textbook changes.
I have been teaching since 2015. I began teaching English in South Korea to children and adults. At MSU I have been a teaching assistant for a wide array of courses in U.S. and international topics, including Michigan and Latin American history.