Brooks Simpson is a historian of the United States. He studies American political and military history as well as the American presidency, specializing in the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Simpson a Foundation Professor of History in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.

He is the author of six books and co-author and co-editor of ten more. His book Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865 (2000) was a New York Times Notable Book and a Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Simpson has appeared C-SPAN and PBS' American Experience. In 2009 the U.S. State Department asked him to travel to Turkey for two weeks to lecture on Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama in historical context.