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Garry Wills

ギャリー・ウィルズ

Garry Wills

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-05-22 （Atlanta, Georgia, US）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Formerly Catholic; later describes himself as an "Augustinian Christian"
Residence History
Atlanta (birthplace) → Michigan (raised) → Wisconsin (raised; high school) → Evanston, Illinois (residence)

Career

Occupations
author, journalist, historian, political philosopher
Active Years
1961-2025
Affiliations
Johns Hopkins University (faculty, 1962–1980), Northwestern University (History Department, joined 1980; Emeritus Professor), University of Edinburgh (fellow)
Memberships
American Philosophical Society (member)

Education

Saint Louis University
Philosophy
Degree: BA
Period: 在学〜1957
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
Xavier University
Philosophy
Degree: MA
Period: 在学〜1958
Year of Graduation: 1958
Country: United States
Yale University
Classics
Degree: PhD
Period: 在学〜1961
Year of Graduation: 1961
Country: United States
PhD in Classics

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
1993
Work: Lincoln at Gettysburg
Organization: Pulitzer Prize board
Result: 受賞
National Medal for the Humanities
1998
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Award (General Nonfiction)
1978
Work: Inventing America
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞（共著者と同時受賞／共受賞）
National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism)
1992
Work: Lincoln at Gettysburg
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Merle Curti Award
1979
Work: Inventing America
Organization: Organization of American Historians
Result: 受賞
St. Louis Literary Award
2004
Organization: Saint Louis University Library Associates
Result: 受賞
Order of Lincoln (The Lincoln Academy of Illinois)
2006
Category: Communication and Education
Organization: The Lincoln Academy of Illinois
Result: 受賞
Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement
2001
Organization: The Lincoln Forum
Result: 受賞
American Philosophical Society (member)
2003
Organization: American Philosophical Society
Result: 選出

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Lincoln at Gettysburg

1992 History / Biography / Criticism

An analysis of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and how its language reshaped American national identity.

rhetoric and languageAmerican political historydemocracy and national identity

Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence

1978 History / Political thought

A historical and intellectual study of Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, examining the formation of American founding ideals.

founding ideasEnlightenment thoughtpolitical rhetoric

Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-made Man

1970 Political biography / Criticism

An analysis of Richard Nixon's character and the cultural and psychological factors behind his political crisis.

presidential characterpolitical culturepower and the individual

Bibliography

  • Chesterton: Man and Mask (1961)
  • Nixon Agonistes (1970)
  • Inventing America (1978)
  • Lincoln at Gettysburg (1992)
  • Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit (2000)
  • Why I Am a Catholic (2002)
  • The Rosary: Prayer Comes Round (2005)
  • What the Gospels Meant (2008)
  • Bomb Power (2010)
  • What The Qur'an Meant and Why It Matters (2017)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
combines documentary-based historical analysis with critical essayingclear and persuasive argumentative prose
Recurring Motifs
exploration of religion and politicsstudy of the power of rhetoricreexamination of founding-era American thought

Legacy

Garry Wills is a public intellectual known for extensive writings on American political and religious history, notably his work on Lincoln and his critiques of the Catholic Church. Though sometimes controversial, his more than fifty books and long career as a critic have had significant influence on American intellectual life.

Academic Societies

  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Loyola University Chicago (donated library collection)

Quotes

  • The Standard Model finds, squirrelled away in the Second Amendment, not only a private right to own guns for any purpose but a public right to oppose with arms the government of the United States... One cannot say one rebels by right of that nonexistent authority.
    Source: The New York Review of Books ('To Keep and Bear Arms', 1995) (1995)

Trivia

  • Coined the macaronic phrase 'Mater si, magistra no' in 1961.
  • Won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for 'Lincoln at Gettysburg'.
  • Received the National Medal for the Humanities in 1998.
  • Married Natalie Cavallo in 1959; she died in 2019 after 60 years of marriage.
  • Donated much of his personal library to Loyola University Chicago after 2019.