William H. Goetzmann
Encyclopedia
William H. Goetzmann was an award-winning historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin
. He attended Yale University
as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe
while there. His work on the American West won him the highest prizes for historians, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. He has written and published extensively on American philosophy, American political history, and the American arts. An advocate for the importance of history as a public discussion, he has served in various capacities in television and film production, notably for PBS. He was most recently the Jack S. Blanton, Sr., Chair Emeritus in History and American Studies. His last book published during his lifetime was Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine
to Pragmatism (2009).
.. The Dillinger-apartment experience was one of many that drew him to the study of history as a dramatic narrative populated by colorful individuals and sweeping movements. Educated at Yale University
where he received BA and Ph.D. degrees, he taught at Yale from 1955 to 1964, with his interest in the history of the West sparked by the historian Howard R. Lamar
. He then moved to The University of Texas at Austin to develop its fledgling American Studies and American Civilization Programs. His early writing concerned American diplomacy and American expansionism; in 1966, Alfred A. Knopf published his Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West, which rapidly won the two most prestigious prizes in American historical writing, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. Over the next 5 decades, he published widely, establishing himself as one of the nation's premiere historians, and ranging widely among intellectual history, cultural history, art history, history of science, and history of philosophy.
A devoted and influential teacher, he was mentor to MacArthur "Genius Award"
winner Stephen J. Pyne
, design historian Jeffrey Meikle
, historian of photography and cultural historian Peter Bacon Hales
, novelist and cultural historian Kay Sloan, and many others.
Goetzmann died of congestive heart failure in Austin, Texas. He was survived by sons William N., of New Haven, and Stephen R. Goetzmann of Dallas; a daughter, Anne Goetzmann Kelley of Austin; and five grandchildren.
When the Eagle Screamed: The Romantic Horizon in American Expansionism, 1800-1860.John Wiley, 1966.
Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West. Alfred A. Knopf, 1966.
American Hegelians
: an Intellectual Episode in the History of Western America, ed.. Alfred A. Knopf, 1973.
The West as Romantic Horizon. Joslyn Art Museum and University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
New Lands, New Men: America and the Second Great Age of Discovery. Viking Press, 1986.
The West of the Imagination (with William N. Goetzmann). Norton Press, 1986.
George Ballentine’s Autobiography of an English Soldier in the United States Army (1986), ed.
The First Americans: Photographs From the Library of Congress
. Starwood Publications, 1991.
Gen. Samuel Chamberlain
’s My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue (1996), ed.
Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism. Basic Books, 2009.
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. He attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
while there. His work on the American West won him the highest prizes for historians, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. He has written and published extensively on American philosophy, American political history, and the American arts. An advocate for the importance of history as a public discussion, he has served in various capacities in television and film production, notably for PBS. He was most recently the Jack S. Blanton, Sr., Chair Emeritus in History and American Studies. His last book published during his lifetime was Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
to Pragmatism (2009).
Biography
William H. Goetzmann was born in Washington and raised in the American Midwest, notably in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his family once rented an apartment previously occupied by the bank robber John DillingerJohn Dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger, Jr. was an American bank robber in Depression-era United States. He was charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana police officer during a shoot-out. This was his only alleged homicide. His gang robbed two dozen banks and four police stations...
.. The Dillinger-apartment experience was one of many that drew him to the study of history as a dramatic narrative populated by colorful individuals and sweeping movements. Educated at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
where he received BA and Ph.D. degrees, he taught at Yale from 1955 to 1964, with his interest in the history of the West sparked by the historian Howard R. Lamar
Howard R. Lamar
Howard Roberts Lamar is a historian of the American West, and a former president of Yale University.-Biography:He was born in 1923 in Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S., and was drawn into history in part by his rich family history which includes two United States Supreme Court justices and the second...
. He then moved to The University of Texas at Austin to develop its fledgling American Studies and American Civilization Programs. His early writing concerned American diplomacy and American expansionism; in 1966, Alfred A. Knopf published his Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West, which rapidly won the two most prestigious prizes in American historical writing, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. Over the next 5 decades, he published widely, establishing himself as one of the nation's premiere historians, and ranging widely among intellectual history, cultural history, art history, history of science, and history of philosophy.
A devoted and influential teacher, he was mentor to MacArthur "Genius Award"
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
winner Stephen J. Pyne
Stephen J. Pyne
Stephen J. Pyne is a professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, specializing in environmental history, the history of exploration, and the history of fire.-Education and academic activities:...
, design historian Jeffrey Meikle
Jeffrey Meikle
Jeffrey Meikle is an American cultural historian and historian of design, and a Professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs of the University of Texas at Austin. He is best known for two studies of American material culture: Twentieth Century Limited: Industrial Design in...
, historian of photography and cultural historian Peter Bacon Hales
Peter Bacon Hales
Peter Bacon Hales is an American historian, photographer, author, and musician specializing in American spaces and landscapes, the history of photography, and contemporary art.-Biography:...
, novelist and cultural historian Kay Sloan, and many others.
Goetzmann died of congestive heart failure in Austin, Texas. He was survived by sons William N., of New Haven, and Stephen R. Goetzmann of Dallas; a daughter, Anne Goetzmann Kelley of Austin; and five grandchildren.
Awards
- 1967 Francis Parkman PrizeFrancis Parkman PrizeThe 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...
and 1967 Pulitzer Prize1967 Pulitzer Prize-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**The Milwaukee Journal, for its successful campaign to stiffen the law against water pollution in Wisconsin, a notable advance in the national effort for the conservation of natural resources.*Public Service:...
for History, both for Exploration and Empire
Partial bibliography
Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863. Yale University Press, 1959.When the Eagle Screamed: The Romantic Horizon in American Expansionism, 1800-1860.John Wiley, 1966.
Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West. Alfred A. Knopf, 1966.
American Hegelians
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
: an Intellectual Episode in the History of Western America, ed.. Alfred A. Knopf, 1973.
The West as Romantic Horizon. Joslyn Art Museum and University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
New Lands, New Men: America and the Second Great Age of Discovery. Viking Press, 1986.
The West of the Imagination (with William N. Goetzmann). Norton Press, 1986.
George Ballentine’s Autobiography of an English Soldier in the United States Army (1986), ed.
The First Americans: Photographs From the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. Starwood Publications, 1991.
Gen. Samuel Chamberlain
Samuel Chamberlain
Samuel E. Chamberlain was a soldier, painter, and author who travelled throughout the American Southwest and Mexico. He and his wife, Mary, had three children.-Early life:...
’s My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue (1996), ed.
Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism. Basic Books, 2009.