David Herbert Donald

David Herbert Donald was born in 1920 in Goodman, Mississippi, and went on to become one of the most esteemed and important historical biographers of the 20th century. He was a leading authority on the American Civil War, and wrote and edited several books on the subject during his lengthy career, earning Pulitzer Prizes and other awards for his work. He was a professor emeritus at Harvard University, one of the most distinguished universities in the world.

Donald's early life was spent in Mississippi, where he studied humanities at The Mississippi State College For Women before continuing his studies at Emory University, eventually graduating with a PhD in history from Harvard in 1946. By this point, he had become interested in the history of the American Civil War, and began to write books about it, which earned him great acclaim and recognition. His most famous works include biographies about major figures from the Civil War era, including Abraham Lincoln, John C. Calhoun, and Ulysses S. Grant.

Donald wrote Abraham Lincoln: A Biography, for which he earned the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1995. He also wrote the breakout biography of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, a book that was even adapted into an opera in 1969. He also wrote Campaign of All The Against Lincoln in 1971, which further strengthened his status as an authority on the Civil War.

Donald was well known as a leader in Civil War scholarship, and in addition to his books, he served as editor of The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant from 1972 to 2009. He was also named a distinguished professor at Harvard in 1975, and remained there until his death in 2009. He was awarded numerous awards for his work, including the Lincoln Prize for his Abraham Lincoln: A Biography, and he was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary societies in the United States.

David Herbert Donald was a prominent scholar and biographer of the Civil War era, the works of whom have been read and appreciated by millions of people across the world. He is remembered as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, and his legacy will no doubt live on forever.