Daniel Walker Howe (born January 10, 1937) 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 species; as well as the ...

who specializes in the early national period of U.S. history, with a particular interest in its intellectual and religious dimensions. He was Rhodes Professor of

American History The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in England (from 1992 to 2002 then

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

) and Professor of History Emeritus at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' What Hath God Wrought'' (2007), his most famous book. He was president of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic in 2001, and is a Fellow of both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

Early life and education

Howe was born in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

, and graduated from East High School in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. He received his Bachelor of Arts at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1959, ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in American history and literature, and his Ph.D. in history at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 1966. Howe's connection with

began when he matriculated at Magdalen College to read modern history in 1960, receiving his M.A. in 1965.

Career

Howe has taught at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

(1966–73),

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

(1973-92), where he chaired the history department, and Oxford (1992-2002). In 2011 he spent a semester as a visiting professor at Wofford College in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...

. In 1989–1990 Howe was Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford and a fellow of

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. In 1992 he became a permanent member of the Oxford history faculty and a fellow of

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

until his retirement in 2002.

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

elected him an Honorary Member of its Senior Common Room.

Awards and honors

He received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

in 2014.

Personal life

He currently resides in

Sherman Oaks, California Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density ...

, and is married with three grown children and six grandchildren as of February 2015.

Books

* ''The Unitarian Conscience: Harvard Moral Philosophy, 1805-1861'' (Harvard University Press, 1970) * ''Victorian America'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1976) * ''The Political Culture of the American Whigs'' (University of Chicago Press, 1979) * ''Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln'' (Harvard University Press, 1997) * '' What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848'' (Oxford University Press, 2007), volume 5 of the '' Oxford History of the United States''

References

External links

Daniel W. Howe
Professor Emeritus, UCLA * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Daniel Walker 1937 births Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians of the United States Intellectual historians Pulitzer Prize for History winners Writers from Ogden, Utah Harvard University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford Historians from California American male non-fiction writers East High School (Denver, Colorado) alumni