Bruce Catton

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Bruce Catton in the 1960s

Bruce Catton (born October 9, 1899 in Petoskey , Michigan , † August 28, 1978 in Frankfort , Michigan) was an American journalist, author and historian of the American Civil War . In 1954 he won the Pulitzer Prize for "A stillness at Appomattox".

Life

Catton grew up in Benzonia as the son of a pastor and school teacher. The stories of civil war veterans in his childhood left a lasting impression, as he relates in his autobiography "Waiting for the Morning Train" (1972). He attended Oberlin College , which he left without a degree in World War I, where he served in the US Navy. After the war he worked as a journalist, first for Cleveland News as a freelance reporter, from 1920 to 1924 for the Boston American , 1925 for the Cleveland Plain Dealer , and then to 1941 for the Newspaper Enterprise Association , for which he correspondent in Washington, DC was . During the Second World War he worked as a government employee for the " War Production Board " (as "Director of Information", ie press spokesman), which was responsible for the administration of raw materials, and then in a similar position at the United States Department of Commerce and the Interior. His first book "War Lords of Washington" (1948) is about his experiences during this time. From 1952 he was only active as an author. In 1954 he was one of the co-founders of " American Heritage " magazine, whose senior editor he remained from 1959 until his death.

Catton is best known as the author of books on the American Civil War, his Army of the Potomac trilogy on the Union Army, the last volume of which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1954 (the book was also his first major one Success), and the "Centennial History of the Civil War" from the 1960s. With Shelby Footes from 1958 to 1974, “The Civil War - a narrative” is considered the best narrative representation of the civil war in the USA .

In 1955 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . Catton received more than 26 honorary doctorates from American universities, including Oberlin College, an award for his work on the American Civil War from President Harry S. Truman in 1959, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 .

The Bruce Catton Prize is named in his honor .

Works

Army of the Potomac trilogy:

Centennial History of the Civil War Trilogy:

  • The coming fury. 1961, until the First Battle of the Bull Run
  • Terrible Swift Sword. 1962, up to the Battle of Fredericksburg.
  • Never call retreat. 1965

more books about the civil war:

  • Grant Moves South. 1960 and Grant Takes Command. 1968 as a continuation of the biography of Ulysses S. Grant begun by Lloyd Lewis in 1950 with "Captain Sam Grant" .
  • Ulysses S. Grant and the American military tradition. 1954 (short biography)
  • This hallowed ground. 1956 (History of the Civil War from a Union perspective, received the Fletcher Pratt Award)
  • America goes to war. 1958
  • The American Heritage picture history of the Civil War. 1960
  • with his son William Catton Two roads to Sumter. 1963
  • Gettysburg - the final fury. 1974

More books:

  • Michigan- a bicentennial history. 1976
  • with William Catton The bold and magnificient dream- Americas Founding Years 1492 - 1815. 1978

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members: Bruce Catton. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed February 21, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Catton, Bruce
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Civil War historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Petoskey , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1978
Place of death Frankfort , Michigan