Jim Cullen teaches history at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York, USA. He was previously a Preceptor in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University, USA. He is the author of nine books, among them Imperfect Presidents: Tales of Misadventure and Triumph (2007), The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation (2003), and Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition (1997).