David Hackett Fischer wins Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement

The award recognizes Fischer's contributions to enriching the understanding of military history

Photo/courtesy

David Hackett Fischer

University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History David Hackett Fischer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and best-selling author, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Pritzker Military Museum and Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.

The award, which includes a medallion, citation and $100,000 honorarium, recognizes and honors the contributions of a living author for a body of work dedicated to enriching the understanding of military history. Fischer will formally receive the award at the Pritzker Museum's annual Liberty Gala on Nov. 7 in Chicago.

“The Pritzker Literature Award is deeply meaningful to me — it comes as the judgment of colleagues who have set the highest standards in my field by the excellence of their research and writing,” Fischer said. “It inspires a sense of obligation in work to come.”

First presented to James McPherson in 2007, the award has also gone to writers Allan Millett, Gerhard Weinberg, Rick Atkinson, Carlo D’Este, Sir Max Hastings, Tim O’Brien and Antony Beevor.

An author of 15 major publications on topics ranging from the American Revolution to the logic of historical thought, Fischer has written such award-winning books as "Washington’s Crossing," a National Book Award finalist and the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for history; "Paul Revere’s Ride"; "Champlain’s Dream"; and "Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America."

“Dr. Fischer has made extraordinary contributions to the field of military history,” said Pritzker Literature Award screening committee chairman John W. Rowe, who called Fischer “a master storyteller and a brilliant teacher.”

Fischer holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University. A member of the Brandeis faculty for more than 50 years, he has received numerous teaching awards, including the 1990 Carnegie Prize for Massachusetts Professor of the Year and the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching. He received the American Enterprise Institute’s Irving Kristol Award in 2006.

To learn more about the award and to watch 2014 Pritzker Literature Award recipient Antony Beevor announce Fischer as this year’s winner, visit the Pritzker Military Museum and Library website.

Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences, Research

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