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Allan Nevins

ジョセフ・アラン・ネヴィンズ

Joseph Allan Nevins

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1890-05-20 （Camp Point, Illinois, U.S.）
Died
1971-03-05 （Menlo Park, California, U.S.） age 80
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Presbyterian
Residence History
Camp Point, Illinois (birth) → New York City (journalism, academic) → Columbia University (Manhattan, NY) → San Marino, California (Huntington Library) → Menlo Park, California (death)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Journalist, Professor, Biographer
Active Years
1914-1971
Affiliations
Columbia University, New York Evening Post, The Nation, New York Sun, New York World, Huntington Library, Columbia University's Center for Oral History (founder)
Memberships
American Historical Association, Society of American Historians, American Academy of Arts and Letters
Influenced By
Evarts Boutell Greene, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., Henry Steele Commager
Influenced
Jean Strouse, Ron Chernow, David Nasaw, T. J. Stiles, More than 100 doctoral students supervised

Education

University of Illinois
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences / English
Degree: MA
Period: 1910–1913
Year of Graduation: 1913
Country: United States
Earned M.A. in English

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (Biography or Autobiography)
1933
Work: Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage
Category: Biography
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize (Biography or Autobiography)
1937
Work: Hamilton Fish
Category: Biography
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
1948
Work: The Ordeal of the Union (first volume)
Category: History
Organization: Columbia University / Bancroft Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Scribners Literary Prize
1948
Work: The Ordeal of the Union (first volume)
Organization: Charles Scribner's Sons
Result: 受賞（賞金授与）
Golden Plate Award
1966
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: 受賞
National Book Award (History)
1972
Work: The Ordeal of the Union (final volumes)
Category: History
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞（追贈）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Ordeal of the Union (8 volumes)

1947 History (American Civil War)

An eight-volume comprehensive narrative of the lead-up to and the course of the American Civil War, covering political, economic, and military aspects in great detail. Nevins' account is slightly pro-Union while offering extensive analysis of events and actors.

Civil Warnational unitypolitical historyeconomic history

Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage

1932 Biography / History

A biography of Grover Cleveland based on extensive research; won the 1933 Pulitzer Prize.

presidential historyleadershippolitical ethics

Hamilton Fish

1936 Biography / History

Biography of Hamilton Fish, a statesman of the Grant administration; won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize.

diplomatic historypolitical history

John D. Rockefeller (2 vols.)

1940 Biography / Business history

A two-volume biography of John D. Rockefeller, presenting a reassessment of industrial leaders and often offering a favorable interpretation of their role in American development.

industrial historybiography of capitalistsbusiness history

Ford (3 vols.)

1954 Biography / Corporate history

A three-volume study of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company, published in collaboration with Frank Hill.

corporate originshistory of technologymodernization

Bibliography

  • The Evening Post; a Century of Journalism (1922)
  • The American States During and After the Revolution, 1775–1789 (1927)
  • Frémont, the West's Greatest Adventurer (1928)
  • Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage (1932)
  • Hamilton Fish (1936)
  • John D. Rockefeller: The Heroic Age of American Enterprise (1940)
  • Ordeal of the Union (1947–1971)
  • Ford (1954–1963)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Narrative, story-driven proseJournalistic, readable styleFact-focused historical narrative
Recurring Motifs
importance of national unitymoral leadership and couragerole of industry and business in societytechnological progress and modernization

Legacy

A major American historian of the Civil War and business history. Institutionalized oral history in the U.S., influenced generations through numerous books and doctoral supervision, won multiple major awards; commemorated by the Allan Nevins Prize.

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association
  • Society of American Historians
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

Archives

  • Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Allan Nevins papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Frequently cited historian in studies of social history and biography
  • Allan Nevins Prize awarded annually by the Society of American Historians

Quotes

  • Nevins used narrative not only to tell a story but to propound moral lessons. It was not his inclination to deal in intellectual concepts or theories, like many academic scholars. He preferred emphasizing practical notions about the importance of national unity, principled leadership, enlightened journalism, the social responsibility of business and industry, and scientific and technical progress that added to the cultural improvement of humanity.
    Source: Gerald L. Fetner, Immersed in Great Affairs: Allan Nevins and the Heroic Age of American History (2004)

Trivia

  • Founded the first institutionalized oral history program in the U.S. at Columbia University.
  • Hosted the CBS radio segment 'Adventures in Science' from 1938 to 1957.
  • Supervised more than 100 doctoral dissertations and published over 50 books.
  • Won Pulitzer Prizes for biographies of Grover Cleveland and Hamilton Fish.
  • Final volumes of 'The Ordeal of the Union' won a posthumous National Book Award.