George Findley Willison (1896–1972) was a writer and editor who specialized in

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

. He also worked in education, journalism, art, public relations, and the military. He was born in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and lived much of his life in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Notable among his books is ''

Saints and Strangers ''Saints and Strangers'' is a book by George F Willison published in 1945 by ''Reynal & Hitchcock'', New York. Its full title, ''Saints and Strangers - Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers & Their Families, with Their Friends & Foes: & and ...

'', about the lives of the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

Pilgrims. He also wrote ''

Cliffs Notes CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides. The guides present and create literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. The company cl ...

'' for the books ''

Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'' and ''

The Federalist ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...

'', and contributed to the ''History of

Pittsfield, MA Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

''.

Books

* ''Here They Dug The Gold'' (1931, rev. 1945) * ''Why Wars are Declared'' (1936) * ''Saints and Strangers'' (1945) * 'Behold Virginia: the fifth crown. Being the trials, adventures & disasters of the first families of Virginia, the rise of the grandees & the eventual triumph of the common & uncommon sort in the Revolution'' (1951) * ''I Am an American - Patrick Henry and His World'' (1969) * ''The Pilgrim Reader'' (1953)

References

External links

George and Toni Willison papers
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...

1896 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of Puritanism 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub