Dawley was a 1965 graduate of Oberlin College, and completed his M.A. (1966) and Ph.D. (1971) at Harvard University. He then joined the faculty of The College of New Jersey.
He received the Bancroft Prize in 1977 for his book ''Class and Community''.
He wrote mainly on the US Progressive Era. He died in Mexico on March 12, 2008, of a heart attack.
