Alfred M. Gollin (February 6, 1926 – October 30, 2005) was an American scholar of European history.

Early life and education

Born on February 6, 1926, in

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to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Gollin enlisted in the

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in 1943 (immediately after his 17th birthday). He served in the field artillery in the European theater. After the war ended in Europe, Gollin was selected to attend New College, Oxford for a term as part of a program to send outstanding American soldiers to English universities. He returned to the US and earned his B.S. at City College of New York.

William L. Langer William Leonard Langer (March 16, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was an American historian, intelligence analyst and policy advisor. He served as chairman of the history department at Harvard University. He was on leave during World War II as h ...

(Harvard University) and Sir John Myers (Oxford University) encouraged him to return to Oxford for his B.A. He received the Cromwell Medal (1949) and the New College Essay Prize (1950) and earned his B.A. in 1951. He was appointed to an Extraordinary Lectureship in History at Oxford University and also served as official historian for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' for seven years. His D.Phil. thesis at Oxford was entitled "History of The Observer, 1905-1910".

Career

Gollin taught from 1959 to 1961 at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

, and then returned to conduct further research in Great Britain. He was called to the growing History Department of the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, in 1966 where he joined

Leonard Marsak Leonard Marsak (1924–2013) was a scholar of Modern European History, especially intellectual history. Biography After military service during World War II, Marsak earned his B.S. in Literature at Cornell University in 1948, (and studied for a se ...

C. Warren Hollister Charles Warren Hollister (November 2, 1930 – September 14, 1997) was an American author and historian. He was one of the founding members of the University of California Santa Barbara history department. He specialized in English medieval histor ...

, and

Joachim Remak Joachim Remak (1920 Berlin – Santa Barbara, Cal., 2001) was a historian of Modern Europe, especially of Germany and World War I. Born in Berlin, Germany, he fled Nazi Germany in 1938 for the United States. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in history ...

in building a strong European history program. Gollin was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

degree from Oxford University in 1968. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

and the Royal Society of Literature. He was a dynamic and enthralling classroom lecturer (with a unique rasp due to childhood surgery) who started each term's lecture with “Let me begin my story,” then continued each subsequent lecture with “Let me continue my story,” and prefaced the term's last lecture with “Let me end my story.” He also had an array of jokes throughout each class such as his “three rules of history” (“The British are always right,” “The Germans are always wrong,” and “Always kick a man when he is down”). He earned teaching accolades such as “Professor of the Year” at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in 1960 and the Distinguished Teaching Award at

UCSB The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

in 1991.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gollin, Alfred 1926 births 2005 deaths City College of New York alumni Alumni of New College, Oxford 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Historians of Europe Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Historians from California 20th-century American male writers Military personnel from New York City United States Army Field Artillery Branch personnel United States Army personnel of World War II