John M. Barry (born 1947) is an American author and historian who has written books on the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with inundated in depths of up to over the course of several months in early 1927. The uninflated cost of the damage has been estimat ...
, the
influenza pandemic of 1918
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
, and the development of the modern form of the ideas of
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
and individual liberty. He is a professor at the
and Distinguished Scholar at Tulane's Bywater Institute.
Life and education
Barry was born in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
and graduated from
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1968. He entered a Ph.D. program at the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
but withdrew from graduate school in the middle of the semester after he received his M.A. in History in 1969.
[University of Rochester One Hundred and Nineteenth Annual Commencement Ceremonies, pg. 31,
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/University-History/ATTACHMENTS/Commencement/1969.pdf]
He then coached high school and college football. In 2021 he was inducted into the Tulane University Athletic Hall of Fame for his role as a coach of the 1973 Tulane football team, and his first several published articles appeared in a professional journal for coaches, ''Scholastic Coach''. In the 1970s he began freelancing for magazines and moved to
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where he frequently contributed to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' Sunday Magazine and was Washington editor of the now-defunct ''Dun's Review'' and ''Dun's Business Month''.
Literary works
His first book, ''The Ambition and the Power: A True Story of Washington'', appeared in 1989 and explored the operation of the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
, the use of power by
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Jim Wright
James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas's 12th congressional district as a ...
, and the rise of future Speaker
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
. In 1995 the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' named it one of the eleven best books ever written on Congress and Washington.
With
Steven Rosenberg
Steven A. Rosenberg (born 2 August 1940) is an American cancer researcher and surgeon, chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and a Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences an ...
, MD, PhD, chief of the Surgery Branch at the
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
and a pioneer in the development of "immunotherapy" for cancer—stimulating the immune system to attack cancer—Barry co-authored his second book, ''The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer'', which was published in 12 languages.
Barry's 1997 book ''Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America'' appeared on the
New York Times Best Seller list
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
and won the 1998
Francis Parkman Prize
The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of American ...
from the
Society of American Historians
The Society of American Historians, founded in 1939, encourages and honors literary distinction in the writing of history and biography about American topics. The approximately 300 members include professional historians, independent scholars, jou ...
for the year's best book on
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 ...
. In 2005, the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
named it one of the fifty best books of all kinds—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—in the preceding 50 years. His work on water-related issues was recognized by the
U.S. National Academies of Science in its invitation to give the 2006 Abel Wolman Distinguished Lecture on Water Resources; he is the only non-scientist ever to give that lecture.
His 2004 book ''
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History'' was also a New York Times Best Seller, and won the 2005
Keck Communication Award The National Academies Communication Award was an annual prize bestowed in recognition of creative works that help the public understand topics in science, engineering or medicine. The awards were established in 2003 and administered by the Keck Fut ...
from the
for the year's outstanding book on science or medicine. In 2005 he also won the "September 11th Award" from the
Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentric ...
at
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
. He has served on a federal government's Infectious Disease Board of Experts, on the advisory board of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
's Center for Engineering Fundamentals, and on the advisory committee at
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...
for its Center for Refugee and Disaster Response. This work resulted in Barry's induction into
Delta Omega
Delta Omega () is the honorary society for studies in public health, founded at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
History
Delta Omega was founded in 1924 by two graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University B ...
, an academic honorary society for public health.
''Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty'' (2012)
Policymaking
Two of his books involved him directly in policy-making. From January 2007 until October 16, 2013, he was a member of the
Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - East The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority was established by Louisiana state laRevised Statute §38:330.1in September 2006. Its operation began in January 2007. The Authority consists of two regional levee boards which oversee flood protect ...
(SLFPAE), the levee board responsible for protecting the
metro area on the east bank of the Mississippi River. He has advised the private sector and local, state, national, and international government officials about preparing for another influenza pandemic. He has also both advised officials and taken a direct role in preparing for water-related disasters. A resident of New Orleans, after
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
he was also named to both the
Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority (SLFPA), which is the levee board overseeing several separate levee districts in the New Orleans area, and the state's
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is a governmental authority created by the Louisiana Legislature in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The organization takes advantage of both federal and state funding o ...
, which is responsible for hurricane protection for the entire state.
Recognizing that protecting New Orleans from storm surge required restoring much of coastal Louisiana, which had once served as a buffer between the city and the ocean and 2,000 square miles of which had disappeared, he proposed to the levee board that it file a lawsuit against oils companies responsible for a significant amount of the damage. His colleagues agreed and on July 24, 2013, SLFPAE filed a lawsuit against
Exxon Mobil
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
,
BP,
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
,
Chevron
Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to:
Science and technology
* Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines
* Chevron (anatomy), a bone
* ''Eulithis testata'', a moth
* Chevron (geology), a fold in rock lay ...
and 94 other oil, gas, and pipeline companies for their role in damage to
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
's coast. Barry was the chief architect of this suit, and was the authority's spokesperson on it. Governor
Bobby Jindal
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives a ...
immediately demanded SLFPAE withdraw the lawsuit. The board was created after
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
by a constitutional amendment, and its members—unlike members of other levee boards in the state—cannot be removed by the governor without cause. However, when Barry's term on the board expired, Jindal did not reappoint him. The board continues to support the suit, and Barry continues to argue for it, speaking at Rotary Clubs and similar groups throughout Louisiana to generate political support. Nonetheless, in June 2014 the state legislature passed a bill attempting to retroactively kill the lawsuit. Despite a veto urged by Attorney General
Buddy Caldwell
James David Caldwell Sr., known as Buddy Caldwell (born May 20, 1946), is an American attorney and politician from the state of Louisiana. He served as Attorney General of Louisiana.
Caldwell lost his 2015 reelection bid to Jeff Landry. In 2018 ...
and 116 law school professors who warned that the bill undermined some of the state's claims against BP for the 2010 spill—and the opinion that the bill did not even kill the lawsuit—Jindal signed the bill, which became Act 544. In August 2014, attorneys for the board filed a motion seeking a partial summary judgment arguing that Act 544 does not apply to the flood authority and that the law is unconstitutional. A state court ruled that flood authority lawyers were correct on both counts; in a separate action, a federal district court dismissed the case. Both lower court rulings are now on appeal, one in the state Supreme Court and one at the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Other work
Barry has written for ''The New York Times'', ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''
Time Magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
'', ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'', ''The Washington Post'', ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', and other publications and frequently appears as a guest commentator on networks in the U.S., including on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Meet the Press
''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
'',
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
World News Tonight'',
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
's ''
The News Hour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the prog ...
'', numerous
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
shows, and such foreign media as the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
.
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contribution to the
recovery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University (RWU) is a private university in Bristol, Rhode Island. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams (theologian), Roger Williams. The school enrolls over 5,000 students and e ...
also awarded him an honorary doctorate.
References
External links
John Barry's websitePBS NewsHour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...
story on lawsuit
*
Interview with Barry on ''The Ambition and the Power'' ''
Booknotes
''Booknotes'' is an American television series on the C-SPAN network hosted by Brian Lamb, which originally aired from 1989 to 2004. The format of the show is a one-hour, one-on-one interview with a non-fiction author. The series was broadcast at ...
'', January 14, 1990
Talk by Barry on ''The Great Influenza'', ''The Art of the Memoir'', November 6, 2004 ''
New Orleans Times-Picayune
''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...
'', February 6, 2012
"Roger Williams is with Us Yet" ''
Providence Journal
''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
'', Jan 8, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, John M.
Johns Hopkins University people
Writers from Providence, Rhode Island
Brown University alumni
University of Rochester alumni
Tulane University faculty
The New York Times writers
Living people
1940s births
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Separation of church and state in the United States
American political writers
American male non-fiction writers
Historians from Rhode Island