William Edward Brandon (September 21, 1914 – April 11, 2002) was an American writer and historian best known for his work about Native Americans and the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

Early life

Brandon was born in Kokomo, Indiana, but spent his childhood in various locales, including the

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. He held a brief job in a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

, before he began working as a professional writer in 1938, although this was interrupted by his service as a photographer for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Works

Brandon published a variety of

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, essays, and poetry, which appeared initially in pulp magazines such as '' Black Mask'', and '' Detective Fiction Weekly'', but subsequently in prominent publications such as ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', and ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

.'' By the 1950s, he began pursuing his interest in non-fiction writing and in 1955 produced an account of

John Charles Frémont John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

's 1848 attempt to cross the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

in his book ''The Men and the Mountain''. Although Brandon's formal education ended after high school, his scholarship was sufficiently respected that he was from 1966–1967 a visiting professor at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

, and later conducted a seminar series on Native American literature at

California State College Pennsylvania Western University, California (abbreviated as PennWest California) is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University in California, Pennsylvania, United States. The campus had an enrollment of 2,717 as of fall 2024. Founded in 1852 a ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, California.

Death and legacy

Brandon died in Clearlake, California, on April 11, 2002, of cancer. His last book, ''The Rise and Fall of North American Indians: From Prehistory Through Geronimo,'' was published posthumously the year after his death.

Literary works

* ''The Dangerous Dead'' (1943)

Dodd, Mead & Company Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. ...

* ''The Men and the Mountain'' (1955) . An account of Frémont's failed fourth expedition. * ''The American Heritage Book of Indians'' (1961) . (short introduction by

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

) * ''The Magic World: American Indian Songs and Poems'' (1971) * ''The Last Americans: The Indian in American Culture'' (1974) * ''New Worlds for Old: Reports from the New World and Their Effect on the Development of Social Thought in Europe, 1500–1800'' (1986) * ''Quivira: Europeans in the Region of the Santa Fe Trail, 1540–1820'' (1991) * ''The Rise and Fall of North American Indians: From Prehistory Through Geronimo'' (2003)

References

1914 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers Writers from Indiana Historians of the United States University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American essayists Deaths from cancer in California American male non-fiction writers American expatriates in Mexico {{US-essayist-stub