Richard M. Watt (November 10, 1930 – January 25, 2015) was an American historian and writer.

Biography

Richard Martin Watt was born on November 10, 1930, in

La Grange, Illinois ''(the barn)'' , nickname = , motto = ''Tradition & Pride – Moving Forward'' , anthem = ''My La Grange'' by Jimmy Dunne , image_map = File:Cook County Illinois Incorporated and Unincorporated areas La Grange Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 26 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Watt attended

Glen Ridge High School Glen Ridge High School (GRHS) is a comprehensive six-year public middle school / high school serving students in seventh through twelfth grades from Glen Ridge, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

, before reading English at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, graduating in the class of 1952. After graduating, Watt was commissioned as an ensign and spent three years serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. In 1963, Watt published his first book, ''Dare Call It Treason: The True Story of the French Army Mutinies of 1917''. Watt published his second book, ''The Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany: Versailles and the German Revolution'' in 1968. In 1979, he published his third book, ''Bitter Glory, Poland and Its Fate, 1918–1939''. ''

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 ...

'' praised the book for telling a "dramatic tale dramatically" and delivering 'forceful' portraits and 'sound' judgments, but described Watt's concern for historical context or analysis as "remarkably modest". Anna M. Cienciala in the ''

Slavic Review The ''Slavic Review'' is a major peer-reviewed academic journal publishing scholarly studies, book and film reviews, and review essays in all disciplines concerned with Russia, Central Eurasia, and Eastern and Central Europe. The journal's title ...

'', broadly praised the work, describing it as a "well-written and well-balanced study of interwar Poland", but was critical of Watt's writings on foreign policy. Watt was a long-term supporter of and donor to the

Józef Piłsudski Institute of America The Józef Piłsudski Institute of America (full name: Józef Piłsudski Institute of America for Research in the Modern History of Poland) was created in New York City in July 1943. It is an archive, museum and research center devoted to the stud ...

. Watt died on January 25, 2015, at

Mountainside Medical Center Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside, also known as Mountainside Hospital, is an acute-care hospital located in Montclair, New Jersey, United States. The hospital has 396 beds and serves Northeastern Essex County. A part of the Hackensack Univ ...

in Montclair, New Jersey.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Richard M. 1930s births 2015 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers