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William Manchester

ウィリアム・マンチェスター

William Manchester

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1922-04-01 （Attleboro, Massachusetts, U.S.）
Died
2004-06-01 （Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.） age 82
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Attleboro (birth) → Springfield (grew up) → Baltimore (journalism) → Middletown (Wesleyan University; residence)

Career

Occupations
historian, biographer, adjunct professor, journalist, non-fiction author
Active Years
1945-2004
Affiliations
Wesleyan University (editor, adjunct professor, writer-in-residence), The Baltimore Sun (former reporter), Lambda Chi Alpha (college fraternity)
Influenced By
H. L. Mencken
Influenced

Education

Massachusetts State College (now University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1942–1946
Year of Graduation: 1946
Country: United States
Member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity during college.
University of Missouri
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1946–1947
Year of Graduation: 1947
Country: United States
Completed master's degree.

Awards

National Humanities Medal
2001
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities (presented by the President)
Result: 受賞
Abraham Lincoln Literary Award
Organization: Abraham Lincoln Foundation / awarding body
Result: 受賞
Purple Heart
1945
Organization: United States military
Result: 受章

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964

1978 biography / military history

A biography of Douglas MacArthur detailing his life, military career, and the nature of his leadership and power.

militaryleadershippower

The Death of a President

1967 historical non-fiction / assassination account

A detailed account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Commissioned by the Kennedy family; its publication involved legal disputes and censorship of some passages.

politicsassassinationmodern American history

Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War

1980 memoir / war literature

A personal memoir based on Manchester's experiences in the Pacific Theater, describing combat, injury, and the war's effects on the individual.

war experiencememorytrauma

The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932

1983 biography

First volume of a three-part biography of Winston Churchill, covering his early life through the post-World War I period.

political leadershipmodern British historybiography

The Last Lion: Alone, 1932–1940

1988 biography

Second volume of the Churchill biography, focusing on his middle years up to the eve of World War II.

leadershippolitical historybiography

Bibliography

  • Disturber of the Peace: The Life of H.L. Mencken (1951)
  • The City of Anger (novel, 1953)
  • Shadow of the Monsoon (1956)
  • A Rockefeller Family Portrait (1959)
  • Beard the Lion (Cairo Intrigue) (novel, 1959)
  • The Long Gainer (novel, 1961)
  • Portrait of a President (profile of John F. Kennedy, 1962, 1967)
  • The Death of a President: November 20–25 (1967)
  • The Arms of Krupp (1968)
  • The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972 (1974)
  • Controversy and other essays in journalism (1976)
  • American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964 (1978)
  • On Mencken (1980)
  • Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War (1980)
  • One Brief Shining Moment: Remembering Kennedy (1983)
  • The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932 (1983)
  • Okinawa: The Bloodiest... (essay, 1987)
  • The Last Lion: Alone, 1932–1940 (1988)
  • In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers (contributor, 1989)
  • A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance—Portrait of an Age (1992)
  • Magellan (1994)
  • No End Save Victory (2001)
  • The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, 1940–1965 (2012, completed with Paul Reid)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
narrative, accessible non-fictionanecdotal, episodic biographical style
Recurring Motifs
war and soldier experienceleadership and powerindividual decisions at historical moments

Health

  • stroke
    1998–2004
    Suffered multiple strokes after his wife's death in 1998, which left him unable to complete the final volume of his Churchill biography.

Legacy

William Manchester was known for his broad biographies and contemporary history books, popular for his ability to tell history to general readers. While scholars criticized aspects of his work, he had significant impact as a best-selling author. His papers at Wesleyan University serve as research archives.

Museums

  • Wesleyan University Archives (William Manchester papers) Middletown, Connecticut

Academic Societies

  • Lambda Chi Alpha (college fraternity)

Archives

  • Wesleyan University Library Archives (manuscripts and correspondence)

Quotes

  • "I would work all day, all night, all the next day, all the following night and into the third day. I would look up at the clock, and it would be 3:30 in the afternoon, and I would say, 'Oh boy, I've got three more hours to write.' I just loved it."
    Source: Interview (recollections while associated with Wesleyan) (2001)

Trivia

  • Served with the 6th Marine Division in WWII and was wounded at Okinawa, receiving a Purple Heart.
  • The Death of a President was commissioned by the Kennedy family and faced a pre-publication injunction by Jacqueline Kennedy.
  • The final volume of The Last Lion trilogy was completed posthumously by Paul Reid using Manchester's notes after Manchester was incapacitated by strokes.
  • Scholars have sometimes criticized Manchester's biographies as anecdotal and hagiographic, though he remained popular with general readers.