Robert Marshall Utley (October 31, 1929
– June 7, 2022) was an American author and
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 stu ...
who wrote sixteen books on the
history of the American West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of United States territorial acquisitions, American expansion in mainland North Amer ...
. He was a chief historian for the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
.
Much of his writing deals with the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
, especially in its confrontations with the
Indian tribes. He wrote:
:the frontier army was a conventional military force trying to control, by conventional military methods, a people that did not behave like conventional enemies and, indeed, quite often were not enemies at all. This is the most difficult of all military assignments, whether in Africa, Asia, or the American West.
The
Western History Association
The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History ...
annually gives out the Robert M. Utley Book Award for the best book published on the military history of the frontier and western North America.
Early life and education
Utley was born on October 31, 1929 in
Bauxite, Arkansas
Bauxite is a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. Located within Central Arkansas, the city is named for bauxite, the source ore for aluminum, which was found in abundant quantities in the area and became a source of aluminium refining. ...
. During his childhood, his parents, Don Williams Utley and Valeria Haney, moved him to northwestern
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, where he attended high school. Later, he attended nearby
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, receiving a Bachelor of Science in history. He then attended
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
for graduate school, receiving a Master of Arts in history in 1952. Following his graduation, Utley served in the U.S. Army, and then joined the National Park Service.
In 1997 he was awarded the
Samuel Eliot Morison Prize
The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
for lifetime achievement given by the
Society for Military History
The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
.
Selected bibliography
*(The Lamar Series in Western History)''.
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, (2012).
*''Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, USA (January 30, 2007).
*''Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, USA (March 22, 2002).
*''Indian Wars''. With
Wilcomb E. Washburn.
Houghton Mifflin Company
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Financ ...
, New York (2002). Originally published by New York: American Heritage Press, Inc., 1977.
*''A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific''.
Henry Holt & Company
Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...
(1997).
*''Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot''.
Henry Holt & Company
Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...
(1993). Originally published as ''The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull''.
*
University of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...
(1989).
*''Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier''.
University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established i ...
(1988).
*
*''High Noon In Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier''.
University of New Mexico Press
The University of New Mexico Press (UNMP) is a university press at the University of New Mexico. It was founded in 1929 and published pamphlets for the university in its early years before expanding into quarterlies and books. Its administrative ...
(1987).
*''The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890''.
University of New Mexico Press
The University of New Mexico Press (UNMP) is a university press at the University of New Mexico. It was founded in 1929 and published pamphlets for the university in its early years before expanding into quarterlies and books. Its administrative ...
(1984).
*''Bluecoats and Redskins: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866 - 1891'', Cassell (1975).
*''Clash of Cultures: Fort Bowie and the Chiricahua Apaches''.
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
Washington DC (1977).
*''Frontier Regulars; the United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891''.
Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
, New York (1973).
*''Frontiersmen in Blue; the United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865''.
Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
, New York (1967).
*''The Last Days of the Sioux Nation''.
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, New Haven, CT (1963).
References
External links
An Interview with Robert M. Utley on the History of Historic Preservation in the National Park Service—1947-1980*[http://friendslittlebighorn.com/interviewrobertutley.htm Interview with Robert Utley, board member of Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield since 2001, where he brings us forward with his life since the publication of his memoirs, Custer and Me.]
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utley, Robert M.
1929 births
2022 deaths
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Historians of the American West
Historians of the United States
Purdue University alumni
Indiana University alumni
People from Bauxite, Arkansas
Military personnel from Arkansas
Writers from Arkansas
American male non-fiction writers