Charles Postel

Charles Postel is an American historian and professor at San Francisco State University.

His most recent book, Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866-1896, is about the powerful social movements unleashed by the Civil War and their often clashing claims to racial, sexual, and economic equality.

In her review of the book, Crystal N. Feimster, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Yale University, wrote:

"Equality is a deeply researched, beautifully written, and brilliantly argued history of the epic struggle to define the meaning of equality in post-Civil War America. This magnificent portrait of the farmers' Grange, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Knights of Labor is filled with fresh insights into the social movements that took root during Reconstruction and blossomed in the Gilded Age. Confronting some of the most difficult questions in American history, Postel adds new dimensions to our understanding of the racial, gender, and class inequalities that continue to shape our social and political landscape.'"

He studied at Laney College in Oakland before receiving his B.A. in history from UC-Berkeley in 1995, and his Ph.D. in history from UC-Berkeley in 2002.

Postel's scholarship focuses on politics and social movements in the United States during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

He is best known for his book The Populist Vision, about which the Longview Institute said,"Elegantly written, meticulously researched, The Populist Vision is an enthralling history of the movement that created the most pervasive political impulse in American politics. Postel’s book has won both the Frederick Jackson Turner and Bancroft awards, which it justly deserves. His work also helps us to understand the actual Populist Vision that lies behind the superficial and shallow rhetoric to which we’ve been subjected during this election year."