Fred Anderson (born 1949) 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 st ...

of early North American history.

Education and career

Anderson received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from Colorado State University in 1971 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from Harvard in 1981. He has taught at Harvard and at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, Boulder, where he is currently Professor Emeritus of History. He has held fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the Charles Warren Center of Harvard University, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. He is the author or editor of five books including ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, February 11, 2000; London: Faber and Faber, 2000), which won the

Mark Lynton History Prize The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual award in the amount of $10,000 given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression". The prize is one of three awards given as p ...

and the 2001

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 ...

as best book in American history. Together with

Andrew Cayton Andrew R. L. Cayton (May 9, 1954 – December 17, 2015) was a scholar of early American history. He taught at Harvard, Wellesley, Ball State, and, from 1990 to 2015, at Miami University (Ohio). In 2015 he was appointed Warner Woodring Chair in H ...

(

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

), he has recently published ''The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000'' (New York: Viking; London: Atlantic Books, 2005). His newest book, ''The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War'' (Viking) is a companion to the four-hour PBS series " The War that Made America," which was broadcast January 18 and 25, 2006. The series and book were released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, organized by French and Indian War 250 Inc., as part of a collaborative effort with a variety of museums, historic sites and educational workshops spanning several states. In late 2006, it was announced that Anderson and Cayton have been assigned the volume on the later colonial period (Volume II: 1674-1764) of the newest (and partially published) ''

Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States (1982–present) is an ongoing multi-volume narrative history of the United States published by Oxford University Press. Volumes Series overview Woodward editorship The series originated in the 1950s wit ...

''. Professor Anderson retired from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2018.

Publications

As Sole Author

*''A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War''. Univ of North Carolina Press, 1984. *''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766''. Knopf, 2000. *''The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War''. Viking Adult, 2005.

With Andrew Cayton

*''The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000''. Viking Adult, 2004.

As editor

*''George Washington Remembers: Reflections on the French and Indian War''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004.

References

External links

Interview
on ''The Dominion of War'' at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
University of Colorado official faculty page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Fred 1949 births Colorado State University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard University faculty Historians of the United States Living people University of Colorado faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers