Garrett McKinnon

Bio

Garrett McKinnon is a historian of the United States in the World with wide ranging research interests and several years of teaching experience. At NCSU, he has taught courses on military history and warfare including American Military History, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the World at War. His research has won fellowship and grant support from many funding institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, presidential foundations, and research libraries.

McKinnon’s current book project, “Automating Violence: A History of United States Drone Warfare,” offers a cultural history of machine war, masculinity, and personal loss tracing U.S. drone war from its emergence during World War I up to the present.

Before joining the History Department at NCSU, McKinnon taught for several years in Duke University’s History Department offering courses on United States political history, Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States, Cold War America, Modern Warfare, and the United States in the World.

During 2023-2024, he is the inaugural Pearson Fellow in Aerospace History at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology.