Michael Brooks (historian and journalist)


Michael Brooks is an American historian and investigative journalist. Brooks earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toledo.

Journalism

As a journalist he wrote for the Toledo Free Press, which ceased to exist in 2015, and his work has been published in a variety of local, regional and national periodicals.
Brooks won Touchstone Awards in 2004 and 2005 for best news articles in a non-daily periodical, awarded by the Toledo Press Club. He was also awarded an Ohio Newspaper Association award in 2005 for his coverage of conditions at the Toledo Jeep facility, which has been translated into German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Academia

As an academic, Brooks currently teaches at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He has also taught at the University of Toledo, Wayne State University, Monroe County Community College, Owens Community College and Lourdes University. As a historian, Brooks has research interests in epidemiological history, European expansion, and Central Asian history.
In 2007, Brooks was awarded a three-year research fellowship by the University of Toledo, which allowed him to travel to European archives. His work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, and he has contributed chapters to several academic texts, including Natives and Newcomers: Great Lakes Peoples.
Brooks has been engaged in research on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Northwest Ohio. This work resulted in the publication of his book, The Ku Klux Klan in Wood County, Ohio.