Richard Slotkin
American historian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Sidney Slotkin (born November 8, 1942)[1] is a cultural critic and historian. He is the Olin Professor of English and American Studies, Emeritus at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and, since 2010, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[2][3] Slotkin writes novels, predominantly historical ones, alongside his historical research, and uses the process of writing the novels to clarify and refine his historical work.[4]
November 8, 1942
- Brooklyn College (B.A.)
- Brown University (Ph.D.)
Richard Slotkin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Sidney Slotkin November 8, 1942 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations | Cultural critic, historian, novelist |
| Academic background | |
| Education |
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| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Wesleyan University |
Education and career
Richard Sidney Slotkin was born on November 8, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.A. degree from Brooklyn College in 1963 and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University in 1967.[3][5]
He started teaching at Wesleyan University in 1966 and helped establish the school's American studies and film studies program.[6] He remained at Wesleyan until his retirement in 2009.[5]
Awards
Regeneration Through Violence received the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association as the Best Book in American History (1973) and was a Finalist for the National Book Award in 1974.[7][8] Gunfighter Nation was a National Book Award Finalist in 1993.[9] In 1995, Slotkin received the American Studies Association's Mary C. Turpie Award for his contributions to teaching and program-building.[10] His novel Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln won the 2000 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction.[11]
In 1976, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree in art education from Wesleyan University.[5]
His 2024 book A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America was longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction.[12]
Works
- Regeneration Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860 (Wesleyan University Press, 1973)
- The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War (Atheneum, 1980)
- Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890, (Atheneum, 1985)
- The Return of Henry Starr (Atheneum, 1988)
- Gunfighter Nation: Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America (Atheneum, 1992)
- Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln (Henry Holt and Company, 2000)
- Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality (Henry Holt and Company, 2005)
- No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 (Random House, 2009)
- The Long Road to Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution (W. W. Norton & Company, 2012)[13]
- Greenhorns: Stories (Leapfrog Press, 2018)
- A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America (Belknap Press, 2024)