A renegade political and cultural theorist, Wills is best known for his historically sensitive and psychologically piercing portraits of the presidents, from Kennedy to Reagan. He is also known for incisive political commentary. In Nixon Agonistes and the award-winning Inventing America, he links Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence to the community-based philosophies of the Scottish Enlightenment rather than the individualism of John Locke, thus undermining one of the most basic tenants of American democracy. He is a professor of history at Northwestern University.
