Dr. Crubaugh is an historian of 18^th century Europe specializing in France. His main interests are the origins of enlightenment and democratic values. “It was in 18^th century France, during the Enlightenment and Revolution, that a struggle to promote important, modern values—rationality, humanism, egalitarianism, and so on—took place. In a search to understand some of my own deeply held personal values, I was naturally drawn to the drama and upheaval of 18^th century France and of the 18^th century ‘age of the democratic revolution’ in general.” Currently, Crubaugh is translating several articles from Diderot’s Encyclopdie and serving as an editor for the H-France book review program. He says he enjoys serving as editor because it allows him to correspond frequently with scholars throughout the world.

In an attempt to understand the elite, Parisian perceptions of French peasentry, Crubaugh is also researching revolutionary newspapers . With this research, he hopes to write his second book, Patriots and Pariahs: Images of the Peasantry in the French Revolution. This project focuses on the revolutionary elites’ hope to implement a new regime founded on liberal and democratic values, but also their frustration to do so because of their perception of peasantry as being ignorant, superstitious, subservient, and bound by tradition. “The study explores the hopes, fears, and difficulties of establishing a democratic policy. And although I look through the prism of 18^th century France, the issue has contemporary relevance if we look at the difficulty of bringing democracy to the remote regions of rural Afghanistan.”

As a teacher, Crubaugh strives to present a “unified narrative” or one that ensures all lessons, themes, and assignments are connected. Crubaugh also believes that reading is very important: “As a teacher, I think it is imperative to drum into students a love of reading. If I can make a student a lifelong reader, I’ve largely succeeded in my work. I also invest a lot of energy into helping students write; an idea is only as good as one’s ability to express it clearly, and so, writing well is an essential, critical skill that one ought to learn in a history course.” He also instructs his students in thinking historically, understanding that “people in the past were different, but they shared our common humanity. By shedding light on who they were, history can also teach us who we are.”

Apart from his career, Dr. Crubaugh devotes most of his time to his children—Floreal, 8, and Ressa, 6. He also enjoys spending time cooking with his wife Polly. Reading is Crubaugh’s most serious hobby, along with a developing interest in wine. From April to October, Crubaugh loves to cycle the rural roads of McLean and DeWitt counties: “It’s a great source of peace and quiet even if corn and soybeans get a bit monotonous.” Crubaugh also spends every summer at the family ranch in Montana: “I don my boots and hat and rather pathetically play at cowboy.”

Crubaugh received his Ph.D. in 1996 from Columbia University. He also holds an M.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Chicago. He joined Illinois State in 2000. Since 2002, Crubaugh has been an 18^th-century Area Editor for H-France Book Reviews. He is also the author of Balancing the Scales of Justice: Local Courts and Rural Society in Southwest France 1750-1800. In 2003, he won the Illinois State University Research Initiative Award and the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Initiative Award.