John Baptist Wolf (July 16, 1907 – April 22, 1996) was an American historian, specializing in modern European history.

Life

Born in Ouray,

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 ...

, on July 16, 1907, Wolf was the son of a German immigrant. Wolf received his B.A. and M.A. from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, then attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, before entering the doctoral program at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He received his doctorate in 1934 for a dissertation on the diplomatic history of the

Baghdad Railway Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, published in 1936. Wolf began his teaching career at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in 1934, remaining there until 1943, when he took a position at the

. In 1966 he moved to the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle, retiring in 1974 as

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. Wolf died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on April 22, 1996 while living in a retirement community located near

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. Writing his obituary (''AHA Perspectives'' Dec. 1996), two of his students, Joseph Klaits and John T. O'Connor, recalled "his wit, passion for history, and zest for life" that stimulated his classes.

Work

Wolf published a number of important books, including ''France, 1815 to the Present'' (1940), ''The Emergence of the Great Powers (1685–1715)'' (1951), ''Toward a European Balance of Power (1640–1720)'' (1969). His most important study was the major biography, ''Louis XIV'' (1968).It is online a
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In retirement Wolf published ''The Barbary Coast: Algiers under the Turks, 1500-1730'' (1979), which was translated into Arabic. He was twice a fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...

, first in Paris (1959–60), then in Madrid (1967–68). For his work in

French history The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Greek ...

, Wolf was decorated as a Chevalier des Palmes Académiques by the French government in 1979. He was also president of the

Society for French Historical Studies The Society for French Historical Studies (SFHS) is, along with the Western Society for French History (WSFH), one of the two primary historical societies devoted to the study of French history headquartered in the United States. The SFHS edits th ...

(1968–69).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, John Baptist 1907 births 1996 deaths University of Minnesota alumni University of Missouri faculty Historians of Europe 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers People from Ouray, Colorado 20th-century American male writers