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Alan Brinkley

アラン・デイヴィッド・ブリンクリー

Alan David Brinkley

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1949-06-02 （Washington, D.C., U.S.）
Died
2019-06-16 （New York City (Manhattan), U.S.） age 70
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Washington, D.C. (birthplace) → Manhattan, New York (residence)

Career

Occupations
political historian, historian, university professor, textbook author
Active Years
1971-2019
Affiliations
Columbia University (faculty, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Provost), Harvard University (former faculty), The Century Foundation (chair), National Humanities Center (chair), Rothermere American Institute (honorary fellow, University of Oxford), Oxford University Press (trustee, 2009–2012), Dalton School (trustee)
Influenced By
Frank Freidel, Nancy Weiss Malkiel
Influenced
David Greenberg, Moshik Temkin, Mason B. Williams, Nicholas Lemann

Education

Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Degree: A.B.
Period: 1967-1971
Year of Graduation: 1971
Country: United States
Senior thesis titled "The Gospel of Discontent: Huey Long in National Politics 1932-1935"
Harvard University
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Degree: Ph.D.
Period: 1974-1979
Year of Graduation: 1979
Country: United States
Doctoral dissertation "The Long and Coughlin Movements: Dissident Voices in the Great Depression", advised by Frank Freidel

Awards

National Book Award (Hardcover History)
1983
Work: Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize
1987
Organization: Harvard University
Result: recipient
Great Teacher Award
2003
Organization: Columbia University
Result: recipient
Ambassador Book Prize
2010
Work: The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century
Organization: Ambassador Book Prize (awarding organization)
Result: winner
Sperber Prize
2010
Work: The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century
Organization: (awarding organization)
Result: winner
Pulitzer Prize (finalist)
Work: The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: finalist
Scholarly Journal Award
2006
Organization: St. Mary's Lancaster (Kathy Walh-Henshaw)
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression

1982 political history, modern history

Analyzes populist figures Huey Long and Father Coughlin during the Great Depression, arguing they reflected genuine popular anxieties rather than being proto-fascists.

Great DepressionpopulismAmerican political culture

The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War

1995 political history, modern history

Reevaluates the development and crises of New Deal liberalism in the contexts of recession and wartime.

New Dealliberalismeconomic and political policy

The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century

2010 biography, intellectual history

A detailed biography of Henry Luce, exploring how his magazine empire shaped American public opinion in the twentieth century.

media historyAmerican centurybiography

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

2009 biography, American history

A concise biography outlining the life and politics of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

presidential historyNew Deal

American History: A Survey

1961 textbook, survey history

A standard U.S. history textbook updated and revised by Brinkley; widely used in universities and AP courses.

survey of U.S. historyeducation

Bibliography

  • America in the Twentieth Century (co-authored with Frank Freidel, 1982)
  • American History: A Survey (revisions & editions, various years)
  • Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (1982)
  • The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People (1992, 2 vols.)
  • The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War (1995)
  • Liberalism and Its Discontents (1998)
  • Culture and Politics in the Great Depression (1999)
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2009)
  • The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century (2010)
  • John F. Kennedy: The American Presidents Series (2012)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly, analytical prosepedagogical narrative in textbooks
Recurring Motifs
Great Depressionevolution of liberalismmedia and politics

Health

  • frontotemporal dementia
    晩年
    Experienced cognitive decline in later life and died in 2019 from complications of the disease.

Legacy

Regarded as a leading historian of twentieth-century America. His textbooks (American History: A Survey, The Unfinished Nation) are widely used in higher education and secondary schools, and he left a significant legacy in both scholarship and teaching.

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association (affiliation)

Archives

  • Papers and materials held at Columbia University (details unspecified)

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Profiles and reviews in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal

Trivia

  • Son of longtime television newscaster David Brinkley.
  • Attended the Landon School; the school created the Alan Brinkley ’67 Lecture Series in his honor.
  • Served as Provost of Columbia University from 2003 to 2009.