He was a professor of American studies and history at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of many books.

[2] He attended Yale University, where William H. Goetzmann was one of his professors, and he graduated magna cum laude in 1962.

[2][3] Crunden taught History and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin from 1967 until his death in 1999.

[2][3][4] He was awarded a Fulbright senior lectureship to teach at La Trobe University in Australia in 1978.

[1][4] Crunden was the author of many books, including American Salons: Encounters with European Modernism, 1885-1917, which was translated into many languages.