Born in Colorado City, Colorado, Richard Current received his B.A. from Oberlin College and went on to earn an M.S. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Ph.D. in history (1939) at the University of Wisconsin. He taught at a number of institutions, including Rutgers University, Lawrence College, Mills College, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin before becoming Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (1966--1983). Current has also taught in Japan, India, the Netherlands, Australia, Chile, and Germany. He was Harmsworth Professor at Oxford University. Current's has written on subjects ranging from the… invention of the typewriter to American diplomacy.