Bill Goldman received a B.A. in history from Yale (2001) before moving to California to pursue a Ph.D in Early Modern Spanish History at the University of California, Berkeley (2009). His work focuses on the politics of the Spanish Empire during the early seventeenth century, most importantly the impact of political thought on political action. His dissertation, “The Political Culture of Empire,” explores the causes and effects of Spanish peacemaking during the reign of Philip III. Bill also works on the role of Spain in the Atlantic World, and has written on the Spanish reaction to the founding of Jamestown in 1607. He has taught seminars on Early Modern European Empires and on Modern Spain at UC Berkeley, and will be teaching “Freedom, Equality, Difference” and “The Making of the Modern World” in 2009-10.
Bill lived in Valladolid, Spain for over a year while on a Fulbright doing research for his dissertation, and returned with a keen appreciation for Spanish culture, especially culture relating to wine and ham. In his free time, he flies single-engine planes to points near and far. He lives with his wife, Serra, and son, George, in San Francisco.