Brooks was born in
Seattle, Washington, on June 19, 1922. He served in the US Army (1941–1946), where he was a member of Regimental HQ Company, 310th Infantry, 78th Division, and received the
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart, and
Silver Star for his service in the European Theater. He attended the
University of Washington in Seattle, where he received the B.A. in 1947, and then the M.A. from the
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva in 1948. Brooks began teaching geography at
Oregon State University in Corvallis (1950–1951), and then taught at
Teachers College,
Columbia University, where he received the M.A. (1952) and Ed.D. (1954). His dissertation topic was "Directed Studies in Introductory College Geography." He also taught at
Hunter College, 1952–1954. Brooks then joined the faculty of
St. John's University in 1961 as associate professor of Geography and Director of their Institute of African Studies, to "prepare students to work in Africa, or for organizations working within the continent." When the African Center was discontinued, Brooks was made a member of the History Department, where he remained until his retirement, and was the department chair in the 1980s. Among the doctoral students he supervised at St. John's were Thomas Hachey, who taught at
Marquette University and
Boston College, and Peter DiMeglio, who taught at the
University of Wisconsin. Brooks' first wife, Savina Vicini, died in 1994. They had two children, Robert and Alison. (Robert "Bobby" Brooks was an entertainment agent who died in the same helicopter crash with
Stevie Ray Vaughan.) Brooks then married Beatrice Shelley and lived in Pembroke Pines, Florida, until his death in 2008. ==Scholarship==