Brian Leech is Professor of History at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.
At Augustana, Leech teaches courses in U.S. history, public history, environmental history, health history, and food, as well as courses for Augustana’s First-Year Inquiry sequence and its Honors program. He currently chairs the Department of History, directs the Austin E. Knowlton Honors Program, and co-directs Augustana’s Minor in Food Studies.
Leech’s research focuses on the history of natural resources. In 2019, his book The City That Ate Itself: Butte, Montana and Its Expanding Berkeley Pit (University of Nevada Press) received the biennial Clark C. Spence Award for the best book in mining history from the Mining History Association. He is completing a book about the portrayal of mining in American popular culture.
What I do
Teaching
Students in Leech’s courses have crafted short documentaries about a labor strike, created pop-up exhibits on college history, and built a digital history map for a local neighborhood. He co-created a new course on how to change minds for the honors curriculum and often teaches using role-playing activities and in-course debates. At Augustana, Leech advises a number of student groups, including the student-run organic garden Augie Acres.
Research
Leech has conducted research on mining, nuclear power, urban agriculture, horror movies, and the development of high fructose corn syrup. Leech currently is working on two projects. One looks at the portrayal of mining in popular culture and the other investigates the history of speed limits. His research has been funded by organizations like the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, the American Heritage Center, and the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center and it has earned awards from groups like Montana: The Magazine of Western History, the Mining History Association, and Phi Alpha Theta/Westerners International.
Organizations
Leech is currently President-elect of the U.S.-based Mining History Association, an organization for which he won the 2026 Ed Hunter Distinguished Service Award. He is also currently President of the Augustana Historical Society and a Co-Convener of the Energy History Working Group at the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. He is also a member of organizations like the Western History Association and the American Society for Environmental History, is on the editorial board of American Studies and can often be found at conferences in popular culture and the environmental humanities.
Want to get in touch?
Email: brianleech @ augustana.edu
Mastodon: @brianleechphd@hcommons.social
Bluesky: @brianleechphd.bsky.social