Peter G. Beidler is the Lucy G. Moses Distinguished Professor of English. He has spent most of his academic career at Lehigh, with temporary sojourns at other universities in the U.S. and abroad. He teaches British medieval literature (especially Chaucer) as well as American literature (especially Native American fiction). He publishes widely in both fields. Among his recent books are The Wife of Bath (an edition and casebook of critical essays in the Bedford series, Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) and A Reader's Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich. He also has a couple of books on Henry James. Pete has won every teaching award that Lehigh offers, as well as two national teaching awards: he was named the1983 National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the 1995-96 Robert Foster Cherry Distinguished Teaching Award at Baylor University. He has done research at the University of Kent, Canterbury, and at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He has taught for a year as a Fulbright professor at Sichuan University in Chengdu, People's Republic of China, and another year as a visiting professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has published a dozen books and over 100 articles, as well as a number of book reviews. He is on the editorial board of several journals, including The Chaucer Review and American Indian Culture and Research Journal (UCLA). In his spare time he renovates and builds houses. "It has always given me a sense of freedom," he says, "to know that if teaching and writing did not work out, I could earn a living as a simple carpenter."