Robert Cowley is an American

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

, who writes on topics in American and European

military history Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

ranging from the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He has held several senior positions in book and magazine publishing and is the founding

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the award-winning
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History
'; Cowley has also written extensively and edited three collections of

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s in

counterfactual history Counterfactual history (also virtual history) is a form of historiography that attempts to answer the '' What if?'' questions that arise from counterfactual conditions. As a method of intellectual enquiry, counterfactual history explores histor ...

known as '' What If?'' As part of his research he has traveled the entire length of the Western Front, from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

to the Swiss border. Cowley lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

Early life and education

Cowley is the son of prominent writer and literary critic

Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), his lyrical memoir, ''Exile's Return ...

and Muriel Mauer. He attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

in New Hampshire, graduating in 1952. Thereafter, he earned an A.B. degree in history in 1956 from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in Massachusetts.

Personal life

He was married to Blair Cowley; they later divorced and she remarried to artist

Paul Resika Paul Resika (born 1928) is an American painter born and raised in New York City. He is a former student of Hans Hofmann. Resika began exhibiting his paintings in New York City in the 1940s. He has had several dozen one-man exhibitions in gallerie ...

. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Miranda. Miranda Cowley, is married to film producer and director

Bruno Heller Bruno Heller (born 13 January 1960) is an English screenwriter, producer and director. He is known for creating the HBO television series ''Rome'' and CBS television series ''The Mentalist''. He has produced the TV series '' Gotham'', based on ...

, son of screenwriter

Lukas Heller Lukas Heller (21 July 1930 – 2 November 1988) was a German-born screenwriter. Biography Heller was born to a Jewish family in Kiel. His father was political philosopher Hermann Heller. He was known for writing the screen adaptions for several ...

and grandson of political philosopher Hermann Heller. Cowley was married to

Susan Cheever Susan Cheever (born July 31, 1943) is an American author and a prize-winning best-selling writer well known for her memoir, her writing about alcoholism, and her intimate understanding of American history. She is a recipient of the PEN New Engla ...

, daughter of novelist

John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; ...

from 1967 to 1975. He married Edith Lorillard, daughter of

Elaine Lorillard Elaine Guthrie Lorillard (October 11, 1914 – November 26, 2007) was an American socialite who founded the Newport Jazz Festival with her husband, Louis Lorillard. Early life Elaine Guthrie was born in Tremont, Maine, to Walter Edward Guth ...

, who founded the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

, in 1978. They have two daughters, Olivia Wassenaar and Savannah Cowley.

Works

* ''1918: Gamble for Victory. The Greatest Attack of World War I'', by Robert Cowley, New York, Macmillan Books, 1964. * ''Fitzgerald and the Jazz Age'', by Malcolm Cowley and Robert Cowley, New York, Scribner, 1966. * ''The Rulers of Britain'', by Robert Cowley, New York, Stonehenge Press, 1982, . * ''Experience of War'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Random House, 1993, * ''The Reader's Companion to Military History'', by Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker, New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1996, * ''No End Save Victory: Perspectives on World War II'', edited by Robert Cowley, New York, Putnam, 2001, * ''With My Face to the Enemy: Perspectives on the Civil War'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Putnam, 2001, * ''West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition'', edited by Robert Cowley and Thomas Guinzburg, New York: Warner Books, 2002. * ''The Great War: Perspectives on the First World War'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Random House, 2003, * ''The Cold War'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Random House, 2006, * '' What If? The World’s Most Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Putnam, 1999, * '' More What If? Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Putnam, 2001, * '' What Ifs? of American History'', ed. Robert Cowley, New York, Putnam, 1999,

References

External links

Random House Author Spotlight

William H. Honan William Holmes Honan (May 11, 1930 – April 28, 2014) was an American journalist and author who directed coverage of the arts at ''The New York Times'' as its culture editor in the 1980s. Honan held senior editorial positions at the ''New York Tim ...

, ''The New York Times'', December 19, 1988.
''Generals, Battlefields, and What Raleigh Said''
Richard Bernstein, ''The New York Times'', December 18, 1996.
''Review: The Reader's Companion to Military History''
Andrew Krepinevich, Foreign Affairs, May/June 1997.

, ''The New York Times'', January 7, 1998.

David Clay Large, ''The New York Times'', May 10, 1998. * ttps://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/17/books/books-in-brief-nonfiction-865257.html?scp=28&sq=Robert%20Cowley&st=cse ''Books in Brief: Nonfiction'' David Murray, ''The New York Times'', October 17, 1999.
''Making Books; The 'What Ifs' That Fascinate''
Martin Arnold, ''The New York Times'', December 21, 2000.
''It All Could Have Been Different''
Chuck Leddy, San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2003.

Laura Miller, New York Times Book Review, September 5, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowley, Robert Living people American editors American military historians American male non-fiction writers American military writers Historians of World War II Harvard College alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Year of birth missing (living people)