Benjamin Breen

Benjamin Breen
Born	1985 (age 40–41)
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin
Academic work
Main interests	Early modern history, Portuguese history, History of medicine, Globalization, Science and technology studies
Notable works	The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade (2019)

Benjamin Breen (born 1985) is an American historian of science and medicine and an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His book The Age of Intoxication (2019) was awarded the 2021 William H. Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine.

His second book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, delves into the history of psychedelic science from the 1930s through the 1970s and has garnered critical acclaim. Publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Publishers Weekly have all provided favorable reviews. In addition, Breen's insights have reached a wider audience through his appearance on NPR's Fresh Air in an interview with Terry Gross.

Education and early career

Breen received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. His doctoral advisor was Jorge Canizares-Esguerra.

Research and writing

Breen’s work centers on the history of globalization and the long-term impacts of technological and environmental change. He has written on early modern globalization; the Portuguese empire; Atlantic history; the early modern drug trade; the history of psychedelics; and the eighteenth-century impostor George Psalmanazar.

Between 2015 and 2017 Breen was a member of the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University and a lecturer in Columbia's Department of History.

His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Aeon, The Public Domain Review, Lapham’s Quarterly, and Slate and been discussed in The New Yorker,The Washington Post, Radio New Zealand, and Le Point.

He was a co-founder and editor of The Appendix and writes the history blog Res Obscura and substack.

Fellowships and awards

• 2021 The William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine
• 2021 National Endowment for the Humanities Award for Faculty.
• 2014-15 Huntington Library visiting fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.
• 2011-12 Fulbright Fellowship (Portugal).

Books

• The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). LCCN 2019-32803 hbk;
• Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science (Grand Central Publishing, 2024).