World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Drew Gilpin Faust

ドリュー・ギルピン・ファウスト

Drew Gilpin Faust

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1947-09-18 （New York City, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City (birth) → Clarke County, Virginia (raised) → Cambridge, Massachusetts (Harvard affiliation)

Career

Occupations
Historian, University president, Author, Academic
Active Years
1975-
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (faculty), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (founding dean), Harvard University (28th President, Professor of History), Goldman Sachs (Board of Directors)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Fellow), Time 100 (listed)
Influenced By
Charles E. Rosenberg (doctoral advisor), Scholars of Southern history and Civil War studies
Influenced

Education

Concord Academy
Period: 195?-1964
Year of Graduation: 1964
Country: United States
Secondary school (graduated)
Bryn Mawr College
History
Degree: B.A. (magna cum laude)
Period: 1964–1968
Year of Graduation: 1968
Country: United States
Graduated with honors in history
University of Pennsylvania
American civilization (MA), History (PhD)
Degree: M.A., Ph.D.
Period: 1968–1975
Year of Graduation: 1975
Country: United States
Received MA then PhD in 1975; dissertation entitled A Sacred Circle...

Awards

Bancroft Prize
2009
Work: This Republic of Suffering
Organization: Columbia University
Result: 受賞
Francis Parkman Prize
1997
Work: Mothers of Invention
Organization: Society of American Historians
Result: 受賞
Jefferson Lecture (NEH)
2011
Work: Lecture: "Telling War Stories: Reflections of a Civil War Historian"
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞/選出
John W. Kluge Prize
2018
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 受賞
Newberry Library Award
2024
Organization: Newberry Library
Result: 受賞
American History Book Prize
2008
Work: This Republic of Suffering
Organization: Organization (unspecified)
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctorates (multiple)
2007
Organization: Bowdoin College, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Princeton University, etc.
Result: 授与（複数年度）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury

2023 Memoir / Non-fiction

A memoir about growing up in a conservative family in segregated Virginia and awakening to the Civil Rights movement.

Race and memoryComing of age / AutobiographyMidcentury American culture

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War

2008 History / Non-fiction

A scholarly examination of how mass death during the Civil War shaped American understandings of death, mourning, and civic life.

Death and mourningWar and societyMemory and public policy
Adaptations
  • [Documentary (TV)] American Experience: Death and the Civil War / Ric Burns (2012)

Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War

1996 History / Social history

Analyzes the experiences and roles of white women in slaveholding southern society during the Civil War.

GenderSlaveryHousehold and public spheres

James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery

1982 Biography / History

A biographical study of James Henry Hammond and the power structures of the Old South.

Elite politicsSlaverySouthern society

A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860

1977 Scholarly book / History

Based on her doctoral dissertation, analyzes the social role of intellectuals in the Old South.

Role of intellectualsSouthern societyPublic life

Bibliography

  • A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (1977)
  • James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery (1982)
  • The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South (1982)
  • Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War (1992)
  • Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996)
  • This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (2008)
  • Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury (2023)

Adaptations

  • American Experience: Death and the Civil War (documentary, 2012)
  • The Gettysburg Address (2015)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scholarly, evidence-based narrativeClear and persuasive academic prose
Recurring Motifs
American Civil WarDeath and lossMemory and public remembranceSouthern society

Health

  • Breast cancer
    1988
    Diagnosed and treated in 1988; reported to have made a full recovery and declined to discuss details publicly.

Legacy

Drew Gilpin Faust is a highly regarded historian of the Civil War and the American South, and as Harvard's first female president she advanced access to higher education, internationalization, and sustainability initiatives. Her scholarship has received multiple awards and she is recognized for contributions to public humanities.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Archives

  • Harvard University Archives (related materials)
  • Radcliffe Institute Archives

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances and interviews on C-SPAN, NPR, and other media

Quotes

  • I'm not the woman president of Harvard; I'm the president of Harvard.
    Source: Campus press conference (2007) (2007)
  • A university is not about results in the next quarter; it is about learning that molds a lifetime, learning that shapes the future.
    Source: Installation address (October 12, 2007) (2007)

Trivia

  • 28th President of Harvard University and the first woman to hold the post.
  • First Harvard president since 1672 without a Harvard degree.
  • Descendant of Jonathan Edwards.
  • Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and later recovered.
  • Joined the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs shortly after leaving the presidency.