Vernon Louis Parrington

Vernon Louis Parrington (1871–1929) was an American literary historian, scholar, professor, and college football coach. Born in Aurora, Illinois, he earned degrees from the College of Emporia and Harvard University (B.A. 1893), taught English at the College of Emporia, University of Oklahoma (where he coached football), and University of Washington, and authored the Pulitzer Prize-winning Main Currents in American Thought (1927–30), a seminal three-volume history of American intellectual and literary development. EBSCO Research Starters