Kyle Harper
{{Short description|American historian and classicist}}
Kyle Harper is an American historian and classicist who specializes in ancient history, particularly that of ancient Rome. He is a professor of classics and letters at the University of Oklahoma (OU), and holds the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty. Harper was provost of OU from 2014 to 2020.
Early life and education
Kyle Harper was born on December 29, 1979, in Norman, Oklahoma.{{Cite news |last=McNutt |first=K. S. |date=2015-09-28 |title=Educator's passion in career, studies wasn't built in a day |url= |access-date= |work=The Daily Oklahoman |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-educators-passion-i/164983000/ A1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-harper-its-the-be/164982899/ A2] |via=Newspapers.com}} In 2001 he graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) with a bachelor's degree in letters.{{Cite web |title=CV |url=https://www.kyleharper.net/cv/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Kyle Harper Personal Website |language=en-US}} In his final year of college Harper was named one of Oklahoma's two finalists for a Rhodes Scholarship.{{Cite news |last=Lackmeyer |first=Steve |date=2000-12-07 |title=State chooses Rhodes Scholarship finalists |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-state-chooses-rhodes/164983240/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |pages=4-A |via=Newspapers.com}} He went on to earn a MA (2003) and PhD (2007) from Harvard University.
Career
Upon graduating from Harvard, Harper was hired as an assistant professor at OU.{{Cite web |last=McNutt |first=K. S. |date=2018-06-10 |title=Kyle Harper: A life greatly impacted by OU, Boren |url=https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/kyle-harper-a-life-greatly-impacted-by-ou-boren/article_3c23a1c5-7e9b-58b6-a52a-ed617b7a0cdd.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Tulsa World |language=en}} In 2009 he was named the founding director of OU's Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage.{{Cite web |last=McNutt |first=K. S. |title=University of Oklahoma's provost is equally comfortable in Oklahoma and ancient Rome |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/local/norman/2015/09/28/university-of-oklahomas-provost-is-equally-comfortable-in-oklahoma-and-ancient-rome/60720166007/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}} He was promoted to be a full professor of classics and letters in 2014.
Harper also worked in university administration and was provost of the university from 2014 to 2020. After stepping down as provost, he returned to the university's academic faculty.{{Cite web |last=Martinez-Keel |first=Nuria |title=OU Provost Kyle Harper to step down, return to faculty |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/columns/2020/06/18/ou-provost-kyle-harper-to-step-down-return-to-faculty/60395675007/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}} In 2021, Harper was named the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty.
Harper's four books are: Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425 (2011),Reviews include:
- {{Cite journal |title=Review of: Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425 |url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2012/2012.01.38/ |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |issn=1055-7660}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Glancy |first=Jennifer A. |date=2013-12-01 |title=Kyle Harper. Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425. |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/118/5/1577/19467 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=118 |issue=5 |pages=1577–1578 |doi=10.1093/ahr/118.5.1577 |issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Thonemann |first=Peter |date=November 2013 |title=K. Harper, SLAVERY IN THE LATE ROMAN WORLD, AD 275–425. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. xiv + 611, illus. isbn9780521198615. £85.00/US$140.00. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/k-harper-slavery-in-the-late-roman-world-ad-275425-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-2011-pp-xiv-611-illus-isbn9780521198615-8500us14000/71035ADED281C063374A6B8EF96D5118 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=103 |pages=353–355 |doi=10.1017/S0075435813000804 |issn=0075-4358|url-access=subscription }} From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity (2013),Reviews include:
- {{Cite journal |title=Review of: From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. Revealing antiquity, 20 |url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2014/2014.01.52 |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |issn=1055-7660}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Langlands |first=Rebecca |date=2015-02-01 |title=Kyle Harper. From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/120/1/172/45861?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=120 |issue=1 |pages=172–174 |doi=10.1093/ahr/120.1.172 |issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Moulton |first=Ian Frederick |date=2015 |title=From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity by Kyle Harper (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/article/579156 |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=334–336 |issn=1535-3605}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Wendy |date=2017-02-01 |title=Review: From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity, by Kyle Harper |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/SLA/article-abstract/1/1/97/83316/Review-From-Shame-to-Sin-The-Christian?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Studies in Late Antiquity |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=97–101 |doi=10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.97 |issn=2470-6469|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Burrus |first=Virginia |date=2014 |title=From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity by Kyle Harper (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/556111 |journal=Journal of Late Antiquity |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=180–182 |issn=1942-1273}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Coon |first=Lynda L. |date=2015 |title=Review: From Shame to Sin |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hisn.12056_48 |journal=Historian |language=en |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=168–169 |doi=10.1111/hisn.12056_48 |issn=1540-6563|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Latham |first=Jacob |date=November 2014 |title=K. Harper, From Shame To Sin |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/k-harper-from-shame-to-sin-the-christian-transformation-of-sexual-morality-in-late-antiquity-revealing-antiquity-20-cambridge-ma-harvard-university-press-2013-pp-xi-304-isbn9780674072770-2995/81A9ED9594E72A00785EA94C17E21A8D |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=104 |pages=358–359 |doi=10.1017/S007543581400104X |issn=0075-4358|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Hauck |first=Robert J. |date=March 2015 |title=From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. By Kyle Harper. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/from-shame-to-sin-the-christian-transformation-of-sexual-morality-in-late-antiquity-by-kyle-harper-cambridge-harvard-university-press-2013-iv-304-pp-3995-hardcover/D6378A775859A2FE90A58AB8F0E2A1B0 |journal=Church History |language=en |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=228–230 |doi=10.1017/S0009640714001838 |issn=0009-6407|url-access=subscription }} The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire (2017),Reviews include:
- {{Cite journal |last=Sarris |first=Peter |date=2018-12-01 |title=Kyle Harper. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/123/5/1627/5221071?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=123 |issue=5 |pages=1627–1629 |doi=10.1093/ahr/rhy205 |issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Reilly |first=Benjamin |date=2020 |title=The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/article/757124 |journal=Journal of World History |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=450–452 |issn=1527-8050}}
- {{Cite web |date=2017-12-12 |title=The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2017-12-12/fate-rome-climate-disease-and-end-empire |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Foreign Affairs |language=en}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Darryl |date=2020 |title=The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/757449/pdf |journal=Mediterranean Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=133–135 |issn=2161-4741}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Wijnendaele |first=Jeroen W. P. |date=October 2019 |title=THE CLIMATE AND THE HISTORY OF ROME - (K.) Harper The Fate of Rome. Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-review/article/abs/climate-and-the-history-of-rome-k-harper-the-fate-of-rome-climate-disease-and-the-end-of-an-empire-pp-xvi-417-figs-ills-maps-princeton-and-oxford-princeton-university-press-2017-cased-2795-us35-isbn-9780691166834/E5B8234814B202E415A7D224B6EECA54 |journal=The Classical Review |language=en |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=560–562 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X19000192 |issn=0009-840X}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Haldon |first=John |last2=Elton |first2=Hugh |last3=Huebner |first3=Sabine R. |last4=Izdebski |first4=Adam |last5=Mordechai |first5=Lee |last6=Newfield |first6=Timothy P. |date=2018 |title=Plagues, climate change, and the end of an empire: A response to Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome (1): Climate |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hic3.12508 |journal=History Compass |language=en |volume=16 |issue=12 |pages=e12508 |doi=10.1111/hic3.12508 |issn=1478-0542|url-access=subscription }} and Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History (2021).Reviews include:
- {{Cite journal |last=Humphreys |first=Margaret |date=2022-01-01 |title=Kyle Harper, Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. John Mokyr, series ed. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World |url=https://academic.oup.com/emph/article/10/1/177/6569825 |journal=Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=177–178 |doi=10.1093/emph/eoac014 |issn=2050-6201|pmc=9040662 }}
- {{Cite journal |last=McDonald |first=Brandon T. |date=2023 |title=Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History by Kyle Harper (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/885038/pdf |journal=Journal of Late Antiquity |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=238–240 |issn=1942-1273}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Cohn |first=Samuel, JR |date=2022-10-01 |title=Plagues upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History, by Kyle Harper |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article-abstract/137/588/1495/6672887?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=137 |issue=588 |pages=1495–1497 |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceac174 |issn=0013-8266}}
Personal life
Harper has been married since 2007, and as of 2015 had two children. In 2015, Harper and his wife were confirmed as members of the Episcopal Church.