Samuel Ruthven Williamson Jr. (born November 10, 1935, in Bogalusa,

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 ...

) is an American

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 ...

. He was President and Vice-Chancellor of

The University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

(Sewanee),."About Sewanee,
"Previous Vice-Chancellors"
Accessed Dec 18, 2015 He is the author of numerous books including ''Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War'' (1991).

Life and career

He received a B.A. from

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 ...

and both a M.A. and Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He taught history as an army officer at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

from 1963 to 1966, at Harvard University from 1966 to 1972 where he was Senior Tutor of Kirkland House and assistant to the Dean of the College and at the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

from 1972 to 1988, where he served as Dean of the College and provost of the university. In 1988 he became Vice-Chancellor (President) of Sewanee: The University of the South and retired from that position in 2000. He then taught history at Sewanee until December 2005. He is a specialist in modern history, particularly the origins of World War I. His first book on the subject, ''The Politics of Grand Strategy: Britain and France Prepare for War, 1904-1914'' won the

George Louis Beer Prize The George Louis Beer Prize is an award given by the American Historical Association for the best book in European international history from 1895 to the present written by a United States citizen or permanent resident. The prize was created in 1923 ...

of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

for best book in international history upon publication in 1969. He went on to write four more books on World War I:''The Origins of a Tragedy: July 1919'' (1979), ''Essays on World War I'' (1983), ''Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War'' (1991), and ''July 1914: Soldiers, Statesmen and the Coming of the Great War'' with Russell Van Wyk (2003). He is also the author of ''The Origins of U.S. Nuclear Strategy, 1945-1953'' with Steve Rearden (1993). In 2003, he became the director of the Sewanee History Project for which he wrote ''Sewanee Sesquicentennial History: The Making of the University of the South'' (2008) and ''The Sesquicentennial of the Laying of the Cornerstone of the University of the South October 10, 1860'' (2010). He also edited five more books published by the Sewanee History Project: ''Ecce Quam Bonum'' (2007), ''Sewanee Perspectives on the History of the University of the South'' (2009), ''The Liberal Arts at Sewanee'' (2009), ''Sewanee Places: A Historical Gazetteer of the Domain of the University of the South'' (2010) and ''Yea Sewanee's Right! A Pictorial History of the University of the South'' (2011).WorldCat author record
/ref> He is married to Joan Andress and the father of three children: George Samuel Williamson, Treeby Williamson Brown and Thaddeus M. Williamson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Samuel 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 1935 births Living people Harvard University alumni Tulane University alumni Heads of universities and colleges in the United States American male non-fiction writers