Edward L. Dreyer (1940–2007) was an American historian known for his work and expertise on the history of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

Early life and education

Dreyer was born in 1940 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. He earned his BA in history from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1961 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from Harvard with a thesis on "The Emergence of Chu Yuan-chang, 1360–65." His thesis advisors were John Fairbank and Lien-sheng Yang.

Career

Dreyer spent most of his career as a professor of history at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. He authored a number of books and papers on various aspects of the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

state, including its formative years and its military and naval history, including a chapter, "Military origins of Ming China" in ''

The Cambridge History of China ''The Cambridge History of China'' is a series of books published by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the history of China from the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC to 1982 AD. The series was conceived by British historian Den ...

'' (vol. 7, part 1). Dreyer was a leading global authority on the

Battle of Lake Poyang The Battle of Lake Poyang () was a naval conflict which took place (30 August – 4 October 1363) between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang during the Red Turban Rebellion which led to the fall of the Yuan dynasty. Chen Youlian ...

and the expeditions of

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...

Personal life

Dreyer was married to June Teufel Dreyer, a China expert at the

and president of the American Association for Chinese Studies (AACS).

References

Citations

Sources

* Hermann Beck,
In Memoriam: Edward L. Dreyer
. ''Perspectives on History'', February 2008.

External links

Obituary
at ''Perspectives on History'', February 1, 2008 Historians of China American sinologists 20th-century American historians American military historians American male non-fiction writers University of Miami faculty 2007 deaths 1940 births Harvard College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni {{US-historian-stub