He is particularly well known for his 2001 book, The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Struggle for Mexican Independence, 1810-1821, which won a major prize awarded by the Conference on Latin American History.
[2] His article "The Islands in the Storm: Quiet Cities and Violent Countrysides in the Mexican Independence Era," published in Past and Present won the Conference on Latin American History Award in 1989.
[citation needed] He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 for his project on Lucas Alamán, a founder of Mexico’s conservative party following independence in 1821.
[5][6] Many of Van Young’s publications have been translated to Spanish and he has collaborated with a number of Mexican scholars.
[citation needed] In 2007, he was named a corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, "a rare honor for a foreigner.