|
1890-1971, American historian, b. Camp Point, Ill. After
studying at the Univ. of Illinois, he followed a career in
journalism until 1927. Teaching at Columbia from 1928, he
became a full professor in 1931 and was made De Witt Clinton
professor of American history in 1942. He retired in 1958,
becoming a senior research associate of the Huntington Library.
Nevins, one of the most prolific U.S. historians of the 20th
cent., is noted for the exhaustive research and comprehensive
treatment that characterize his wide range of historical writings.
His masterful political biographies include Grover Cleveland
(1932) and Hamilton Fish (1936), both of which
won Pulitzer Prizes; Frémont: Pathmarker of the
West (1939); and Herbert H. Lehman and His Era
(1963). In works on the economic giants of America, among
them Abram S. Hewitt (1935) and Study in Power:
John D. Rockefeller (rev. ed. 1953), Nevins pointed
out the role of the captains of industry in making America
a world power. The Ordeal of the Union (1947-60),
Nevins's six-volume history of the Civil War era from 1847
through 1863, is a comprehensive narrative of the age, covering
social, economic, and political aspects. Among many other
notable works are Illinois (1917), a history of
the state university; The Evening Post (1922), an
early work in the history of journalism; The American
States during and after the Revolution, 1775-1789 (1924),
a valuable study of change in this period; The Emergence
of Modern America, 1865-1878 (1927), a social history;
and The Gateway to History (1938, rev. ed. 1962),
an introduction to historiography. The many papers edited
by Nevins include the diaries of Philip Hone (1927), John
Quincy Adams (1928), James K. Polk (1929), and George Templeton
Strong (1952), as well as the letters of Grover Cleveland
(1933). Nevins also established the Columbia oral history
program, the first of its kind in the nation.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ?1994,
1995 Columbia University Press.
back |
Nevins, Allen