Fred Anderson (born 1949) is 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 st ...

of early North American history.

Education and career

Anderson received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

from Colorado State University in 1971 and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1981. He has taught at Harvard and at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

, where he is currently Professor Emeritus of History. He has held fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the Charles Warren Center of Harvard University, the Guggenheim Foundation and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Ca ...

. He is the author or editor of five books including ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, February 11, 2000; London: Faber and Faber, 2000), which won the Mark Lynton History Prize and the 2001

Francis Parkman Prize The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of America ...

as best book in American history. Together with Andrew Cayton (

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 1 ...

), he has recently published ''The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000'' (New York: Viking; London: Atlantic Books, 2005). His newest book, ''The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War'' (Viking) is a companion to the four-hour PBS series " The War that Made America," which was broadcast January 18 and 25, 2006. The series and book were released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

, organized by French and Indian War 250 Inc., as part of a collaborative effort with a variety of museums, historic sites and educational workshops spanning several states. In late 2006, it was announced that Anderson and Cayton have been assigned the volume on the later colonial period (Volume II: 1674-1764) of the newest (and partially published) '' Oxford History of the United States''. Professor Anderson retired from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2018.

Publications

As Sole Author

*''A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War''. Univ of North Carolina Press, 1984. *''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766''. Knopf, 2000. *''The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War''. Viking Adult, 2005.

With Andrew Cayton

*''The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500-2000''. Viking Adult, 2004.

As editor

*''George Washington Remembers: Reflections on the French and Indian War''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004.

References

External links

Interview
on ''The Dominion of War'' at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was fo ...

University of Colorado official faculty page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Fred 1949 births Colorado State University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard University faculty Historians of the United States Living people University of Colorado faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers