Richard Rapson

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Richard L. Rapson (B.A. Amherst, Ph.D. Columbia) is Professor of History at the University of Hawaii. He came to Hawaii in 1966 after teaching many years at Amherst and at Stanford University. He has written a dozen books, most of which focus on the psychological side of American life, past and present. Dr. Rapson’s most recent book, a memoir of ideas, is Amazed by Life: Confessions of a Non-religious Believer. It was published in 2004. He has been a T.V. moderator for a PBS series, Dean of New College, and, among many honors, been named by the Danforth Foundation as one of the nation's best teachers. He was a therapist for 15 years, beginning in 1982.

In the 1990s, Dr. Rapson and Dr. Elaine Hatfield (his wife) collaborated on three scholarly books: Love, Sex, and Intimacy: Their Psychology, Biology, and History (HarperCollins,) Emotional Contagion (Cambridge University Press,) and Love and Sex: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Allyn & Bacon.)

The Rapsons have published three serious novels: Rosie, Recovered Memories, and Darwin’s Law, and four detective stories: two Kate MacKinnon murder mysteries (Deadly Wager and Vengeance is Mine) and two Firefly mysteries (The Adventures of Firefly: The World’s Tiniest Detective and Take Up Serpents.)

For more information on Dr. Rapson, please visit http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rapson.