David S. Reynolds (born 1948) is an American historian and literary critic, noted for his specialized books on the Civil War period and his expert knowledge of Walt Whitman.
Reynolds was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 30, 1948, and was raised in nearby Barrington, located near Narragansett Bay. He lived there for over a decade in a home attached to an old lighthouse on Nayatt Point before moving on to further his education.
Reynolds first attended Amherst College, where he received a B. A. in 1970 and the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded his Ph.D. nine years later. He spent the next decade teaching English and American Studies at, successively, Northwestern University, Barnard College, New York University and Rutgers University at Camden. In 1989, Reynolds moved to the City University of New York and has taught there ever since. At first he did so at Baruch College and now as a Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at the Ph.D. Program in English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His wife, whose professional name is Suzanne Nalbantian, is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University.
A few of his books, such as Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography, have won awards, including the Bancroft Prize and the Ambassador Book Award. He was also finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.