Rhys Llywelyn Isaac (20 November 1937 – 6 October 2010) was a South African-born Australian historian of American history who also worked in the United States. Small picture of Rhys with book 1983

Isaac and his twin brother

Glynn Glynn () is a small village and civil parish in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies a short distance south of Larne, on the shore of Larne Lough. Glynn had a population of 2,027 people in t ...

were born in Cape Town, South Africa, to William Edwyn Isaac and

Frances Margaret Leighton Frances Margaret Leighton (8 March 1909 – 8 January 2006) was a South African botanist and educator. After graduating from Rhodes University with her M.Sc degree in 1931, she worked at the Bolus Herbarium until 1947. Her primary research intere ...

, both professional botanists. Isaac earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

. In 1959 he was the Cape Province Rhodes Scholar at

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided th ...

(Oxford), earning his Ph.D. in 1962. In 1963 Isaac emigrated to Australia, where he taught at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

, and later at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...

(1971–91), where he was emeritus professor of American history. In 1975 he was a distinguished visiting professor of early American history at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William II ...

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is b ...

. Isaac won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book ''

The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (1982), becoming the first and only Australian historian to win a Pulitzer Prize. In 2004 Isaac published ''Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation'', which made use of the exemplary diary of a Virginian landholder and member of the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

Death

Isaac died at his home in

Blairgowrie, Victoria Blairgowrie is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately south of Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Blairgowrie re ...

, Australia, on 6 October 2010, aged 72, from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac, Rhys L. 1937 births People from Cape Town 2010 deaths 20th-century South African historians Colony of Virginia Historians of the American Revolution Historians of the Southern United States History of the Thirteen Colonies Historians of the United States Academic staff of La Trobe University College of William & Mary faculty Pulitzer Prize for History winners Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia) 20th-century Australian historians 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers