I am a Professor of History at Southern Methodist University, where I has been on the faculty since 1995. I am the author of Marking Modern Times: Clocks, Watches and Other Timekeepers in American Life (University of Chicago Press, 2013) and Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday (Cornell University Press, 2000) and . I am also the editor of American Life During the Industrial Age: A Social and Cultural History in Essays and Documents (Routledge Press, 2024) and Land of Necessity: Consumer Culture in the United States-Mexico Borderlands (Duke University Press, 2009). I am now finishing a history of New Year’s observances in the United States titled Time’s Touchstone: The New Year in American Life. It is under contract with the University of Texas Press.