Irwin Unger (May 2, 1927 - May 21, 2021,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and academic specializing in economic history, the history of the 1960s, and the history of the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and West ...

. He earned his Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan ...

in 1958 and is currently Professor Emeritus of History at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, t ...

. Unger won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...

for History in 1965 for his book, ''

The Greenback Era ''The Greenback Era: A Social and Political History of American Finance, 1865-1879'' is a book by American historian Irwin Unger, published in 1964 by Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close c ...

''. His most recent book, written in collaboration with Stanley Hirshson, a

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

historian, and Debi Unger, an editor at

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

, is a 2014 biography of

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...

Personal life

Irwin was married to author and journalist Debi Unger; they have collaborated on several books.

Books

Among Unger's published books are: *''George Marshall'', (with Debi Unger and Stanley Hirshson, 2014) *''The Guggenheims: A Family History'', (with Debi Unger, 2005) *''LBJ : A Life'', (with Debi Unger, 1999) *''The Times Were a Changin': The Sixties Reader'' (with Debi Unger, 1998) *''The Best of Intentions: The

Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the University ...

Programs of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon'' (1996) *''Turning Point, 1968'', (with Debi Unger, 1988) *''These United States: The Questions of Our Past'' (1978) *''The Vulnerable Years: The United States, 1896-1917'' (1977) *''The Movement: The American New Left 1959-1973'' (1973) *''

'' (1964) In addition, Unger has written a number of textbooks on modern

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

References

External links

Faculty Profile of Irwin Unger, New York University
* Living people 1927 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers New York University faculty City College of New York alumni Columbia University alumni Pulitzer Prize for History winners American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub