Lawrence S. Wittner
Encyclopedia
Lawrence S. Wittner is an American historian who has written extensively on peace movements and foreign policy.
He attended Columbia College (B.A., 1962), the University of Wisconsin (M.A. in history, 1963), and Columbia University
(Ph.D. in history, 1967). Subsequently, he taught at Hampton Institute, at Vassar College
, and—under the Fulbright program—at Japanese universities. In 1974, he began teaching at the State University of New York/Albany, where he is currently professor of history.
Wittner is the author of seven books, the editor or co-editor of another four, and the author of about 200 articles and book reviews. From 1984 to 1987, he edited Peace & Change, a journal of peace research. His article "Peace Movements and Foreign Policy" won the Charles DeBenedetti award of the Conference on Peace Research in History in 1989, and his One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953 received the Warren Kuehl Book Prize of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations in 1995. In addition, he received the New York State/United University Professions Excellence Award for scholarship, teaching, and service in 1990.
A former president of the Council on Peace Research in History (now the Peace History Society), an affiliate of the American Historical Association, Wittner also chaired the Peace History Commission of the International Peace Research Association.
He has received major fellowships or grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Aspen Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the United States Institute of Peace.
Wittner has spoken at the United Nations and at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, delivered guest lectures on dozens of college and university campuses (including Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Yale University, Rutgers University, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, American University, the University of Maine, the University of Utah, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of New Mexico, Swarthmore College, Colgate University, and University of Alaska Southeast), and given talks in numerous countries (including Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Spain).
Blending intellectual life with political activity, Wittner has been active since 1961 in the racial equality, labor, and peace movements. He was an early civil rights and anti-apartheid activist and has served for decades as an elected leader of United University Professions (the SUNY faculty-staff union that is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers). He is currently a national board member of Peace Action, the largest peace organization in the United States. On occasion, he performs vocally and on the banjo with the Solidarity Singers, who enliven a variety of events—in prisons, on picket lines, and at meetings of the American Historical Association—with their music.
He attended Columbia College (B.A., 1962), the University of Wisconsin (M.A. in history, 1963), and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(Ph.D. in history, 1967). Subsequently, he taught at Hampton Institute, at Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, and—under the Fulbright program—at Japanese universities. In 1974, he began teaching at the State University of New York/Albany, where he is currently professor of history.
Wittner is the author of seven books, the editor or co-editor of another four, and the author of about 200 articles and book reviews. From 1984 to 1987, he edited Peace & Change, a journal of peace research. His article "Peace Movements and Foreign Policy" won the Charles DeBenedetti award of the Conference on Peace Research in History in 1989, and his One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953 received the Warren Kuehl Book Prize of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations in 1995. In addition, he received the New York State/United University Professions Excellence Award for scholarship, teaching, and service in 1990.
A former president of the Council on Peace Research in History (now the Peace History Society), an affiliate of the American Historical Association, Wittner also chaired the Peace History Commission of the International Peace Research Association.
He has received major fellowships or grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Aspen Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the United States Institute of Peace.
Wittner has spoken at the United Nations and at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, delivered guest lectures on dozens of college and university campuses (including Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Yale University, Rutgers University, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, American University, the University of Maine, the University of Utah, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of New Mexico, Swarthmore College, Colgate University, and University of Alaska Southeast), and given talks in numerous countries (including Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Spain).
Blending intellectual life with political activity, Wittner has been active since 1961 in the racial equality, labor, and peace movements. He was an early civil rights and anti-apartheid activist and has served for decades as an elected leader of United University Professions (the SUNY faculty-staff union that is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers). He is currently a national board member of Peace Action, the largest peace organization in the United States. On occasion, he performs vocally and on the banjo with the Solidarity Singers, who enliven a variety of events—in prisons, on picket lines, and at meetings of the American Historical Association—with their music.
Books by Wittner
- Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941-1960. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969. Paperback edition, 1970. Revised, expanded edition published as: Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1933-1983. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984. Paperback edition, 1984.
- (Editor) MacArthur. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Paperback edition, 1971.
- Cold War America: From Hiroshima to Watergate. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974. Paperback edition, 1974. Revised, expanded edition: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978.
- American Intervention in Greece, 1943-1949. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
- (Associate Editor) Biographical Dictionary of Modern Peace Leaders. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1985.
- One World or None: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement Through 1953. (Vol. 1 of The Struggle Against the Bomb.) Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993. Paperback edition, 1995.
- (Editor, with five others) Peace/Mir: An Anthology of Historic Alternatives to War. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994. Paperback edition, 1994. Russian language edition: Mir/Peace. Al'ternativy voine ot Antichnosti do knotsa mirovoi voiny. Antologiia. Moscow: Nauka Press, 1993.
- Resisting the Bomb: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, 1954-1970. (Vol. 2 of The Struggle Against the Bomb.) Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. Paperback edition, 1997.
- Toward Nuclear Abolition: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, 1971 to the Present. (Vol. 3 of The Struggle Against the Bomb.) Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. Paperback edition, 2003.
- (Co-editor, with Glen H. Stassen) Peace Action: Past, Present, and Future. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2007. Paperback edition, 2007.
- Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009.
External Links
- Interview with Wittner on "New Books in History"
- http://vimeo.com/10681400 Lecture on "How Peace Activists Saved the World from Nuclear War," Seattle, WA, Apr. 3, 2010.