Carl Emil Schorske (March 15, 1915 – September 13, 2015), known professionally as Carl E. Schorske, was an American cultural historian and professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 1981 he won the

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published du ...

for his book '' Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture'' (1980), which remains significant to modern European intellectual history. He was a recipient of the first year of

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

awards in 1981 and made an

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 2012.

Biography

Born in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to Theodore Schorske and Gertrude Goldsmith, Schorske received his B.A. from Columbia in 1936 and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1950. He served in the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

, the precursor to the CIA, during World War II, as chief of political intelligence for Western Europe. His first book, ''German Social Democracy'', published by Harvard University Press in 1955, describes the schism of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

into a reformist/constitutionalist right faction and a revolutionary oppositionist left faction during the years 1905–1917. Following his war-time service, Schorske taught at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

(1946–1960), the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

(1960–1969), and

(1969 until his retirement in 1980), where he was Dayton-Stockton Professor of History. Professor Schorske was named by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine as one of the nation's ten top academic leaders. In 1987 he delivered the

Charles Homer Haskins Charles Homer Haskins (December 21, 1870 – May 14, 1937) was an American medievalist at Harvard University. He was an advisor to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. He is widely recognized as the first academic medieval historian in the United St ...

Lecture. In 1998 Schorske published ''Thinking With History: Explorations in the Passage to Modernism'' (

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

), a collection of essays on Viennese and general history. He turned 100 in March 2015 and died in September at a retirement community in

Hightstown, New Jersey Hightstown is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nestled within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region, Hightstown is an historic, commercial, and cultural hub of Cent ...

Decorations and awards

In 2004 Schorske received the Ludwig Wittgenstein Prize of the Austrian Research Association (''Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft''). He was a ''Corresponding Member'' of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

. On 25 April 2012 Schorske was made an honorary citizen of Vienna during a ceremony attended by his wife, Elizabeth Rorke, his granddaughter, Carina del Valle Schorske, and the mayor of Vienna, Dr

Michael Häupl Michael Häupl (born 14 September 1949) is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, he served as mayor and governor of Vienna from 7 November 1994 until 24 May 2018. Early life and education Häupl was born i ...

. In 1981 he was a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

. * 1985: City of Vienna Prize for Journalism * 1996: Grand Silver Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria * 2007: Victor-Adler State Prize for History of Social Movements *

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Austria, Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian Decoration for Science a ...

Works

* ''German Social Democracy, 1905–1917: The Development of the Great Schism'' (1955,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

) * ''Thinking With History: Explorations in the Passage to Modernism'' (1998,

) * '' Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture'' (1980) * "A life of learning" Charles Homer Haskins lecture, April 23, 1987 * ''Budapest and New York: Studies in Metropolitan Transformation, 1870–1930'', with Thomas Bender (1994, Russell Sage Foundation)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schorske, Carl 1915 births 2015 deaths People from Scarsdale, New York Harvard University alumni MacArthur Fellows People of the Office of Strategic Services Princeton University faculty Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction winners Wesleyan University faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni American people of German descent Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Scarsdale High School alumni American men centenarians Historians from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers