Robert S. McElvaine is Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts and Letters and Chair of the Department of History at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and the author of eight books and the editor of three. He is considered one of the world's leading historians of the Great Depression. McElvaine is also known for his work on the centrality of misperceptions of differences and inequality between the sexes in the unfolding of human history.

Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.