Whitney McIntosh is an historian of the twentieth-century United States with a focus on intellectual and political history. Her research and teaching interests span right-wing politics, social movements, and democratic culture. Her current book project, American Libertarianism: A Philosophy, a Movement, a Sensibility, 1960-1995, examines the rise of libertarianism in the United States from the 1960s counterculture to the dawn of the digital age. Whitney’s writing has appeared in Modern American History and Reviews in American History, among other publications. Her research has been supported by the American Historical Association, the Hoover Institution, the History of Economics Society, and the University of Oregon.

Before coming to WPI, Whitney was a Lecturer in Columbia University’s Core Curriculum, where she received the 2025 Contemporary Civilization Preceptor Teaching Award. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.