Irwin Unger (May 2, 1927 - May 21, 2021,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
) was an American
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
and
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
specializing in economic history, the history of the 1960s, and the history of the
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...
. He earned his Ph.D. from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1958 and is currently Professor Emeritus of History at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
.
Unger won the
Pulitzer Prize for History in 1965 for his book, ''
The Greenback Era
''The Greenback Era: A Social and Political History of American Finance, 1865-1879'' is a book by American historian Irwin Unger, published in 1964 by Princeton University Press, which won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize fo ...
''. His most recent book, written in collaboration with Stanley Hirshson, a
Queens College historian, and Debi Unger, an editor at
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
, is a 2014 biography of
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...
.
Personal life
Irwin was married to author and journalist Debi Unger; they have collaborated on several books.
Books
Among Unger's published books are:
*''George Marshall'', (with Debi Unger and Stanley Hirshson, 2014)
*''The Guggenheims: A Family History'', (with Debi Unger, 2005)
*''LBJ : A Life'', (with Debi Unger, 1999)
*''The Times Were a Changin': The Sixties Reader'' (with Debi Unger, 1998)
*''The Best of Intentions: The
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Universit ...
Programs of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon'' (1996)
*''Turning Point, 1968'', (with Debi Unger, 1988)
*''These United States: The Questions of Our Past'' (1978)
*''The Vulnerable Years: The United States, 1896-1917'' (1977)
*''The Movement: The American New Left 1959-1973'' (1973)
*''
The Greenback Era
''The Greenback Era: A Social and Political History of American Finance, 1865-1879'' is a book by American historian Irwin Unger, published in 1964 by Princeton University Press, which won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for History
The Pulitzer Prize fo ...
'' (1964)
In addition, Unger has written a number of textbooks on modern
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
.
References
External links
Faculty Profile of Irwin Unger, New York University*
Living people
1927 births
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
New York University faculty
City College of New York alumni
Columbia University alumni
Pulitzer Prize for History winners
American male non-fiction writers
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