Sam is finishing his fifth year as a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at Brown University, where he studies modern United States history, United States foreign policy, and twentieth-century American-Russian/Soviet relations  Sam's dissertation, which he is writing under the direction of Professor James T. Patterson, is focused on the growth and development of ultra-Conservative organizations, such as the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, between 1950 and 1990; it is tentatively entitled Shouting at the Rain: The Growth and Development of Right-Wing Anti-Communist Organizations in the Era of Modern American Conservatism.  Although he studies the far right, Sam is neither a member of the John Birch Society nor a conservative.  Sam holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with dual concentrations in History and Philosophy (2000), an A.M. (Master of Arts) in History from Brown University (2001), and a second A.M. (in Political Science) from Brown University (2003).  At Brown Sam has fenced with the Brown Fencing Team, written a regular column for the Brown Daily Herald, and served as an officer of the Brown University Chorus, with which he toured Costa Rica and in which he met his wife, Claudia Arno.  Sam has also served as both secretary and co-president of the Brown University Graduate Student Council (GSC), served on the Faculty Committee on Student Life, the Brown College Curriculum Council, the Brown University Independent Concentration Committee, and the Brown University Curriculum Committee.  At Brown Sam has worked as a Teaching Assistant for Professors James Patterson, Gordon Wood, Charles Neu, and Omer Bartov; he has also several times taught History 141 - United States to 1877 and History 142 - United States from 1877 at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island and Providence, Rhode Island.  While in graduate school Sam has also worked for The Princeton Review of Rhode Island, Fidelity Investments and the National Student Leadership Conference.  He is the editor of three high-school/early college history books (through Greenhaven Press): Dwight David Eisenhower: Presidents and Their Decisions (2002), Living Through The Vietnam War: Living Through the Cold War (2005), and At Issue In History: Vietnam War Crimes (August, 2005); his fourth book, Examining Issues Through Court Decisions: The Death Penalty, will come out in 2006.  Sam is also currently finishing several scholarly articles, including “False Lessons and Futile Power: Early Joint Operations and Bombardment Fever in the American Civil War” and “Strong Words: Partisan Propaganda, Inter-party Conflict, and the War of 1812 in Early Republic Rhode Island.”  Sam can be reached by email at Samuel_Brenner at Brown.edu or by phone at (401) 339-1546.