Adam Krejčí is a fifth-year PhD student, having completed my MA in 2020 at OU on the culture of violence in the Indian Territory Civil War. Currently, his research focuses on the Great Plains during the Civil War Era and the latter half of the 19th century. His dissertation, Promised Land, argues that the United States, as an empire, actively sought to exert power over the land and people of the West primarily through various land distribution regimes backed by the military and the people themselves. The Civil War was a struggle over which of those regimes would mold the West, specifically the Great Plains, and the victors failed to implement their vision leading, ultimately, to the creation of Oklahoma. He hopes this research will intervene in extant historiographic conversations about the nature of empires, the importance of the Civil War and the American West in the course of American history, and connections between the Civil War Era and Oklahoma history.
Adam is also a licensed attorney and former litigator and currently resides in Edmond with his wife, Melissa, and his three children Chelsea (5), Joseph (3), and Sophia (21 months). Adam’s other historical interests include the ways in which wars have been fought, the development of war and violence over time and concomitant effects on society and culture, and how religion and philosophical mentalities influence change in society and culture. Outside of history, his interests include family, theology, philosophy, creative writing, and sports.