Robert Marshall Utley (October 31, 1929 – June 7, 2022) was an American author and historian who wrote sixteen books on the

history of the American West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...

. He was a chief historian for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. Much of his writing deals with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

, especially in its confrontations with the Indian tribes. He wrote: :the frontier army was a conventional military force trying to control, by conventional military methods, a people that did not behave like conventional enemies and, indeed, quite often were not enemies at all. This is the most difficult of all military assignments, whether in Africa, Asia, or the American West. The

Western History Association The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington, et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History ...

annually gives out the Robert M. Utley Book Award for the best book published on the military history of the frontier and western North America.

Early life and education

Utley was born on October 31, 1929, in

Bauxite, Arkansas Bauxite is a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. Located within Central Arkansas, the city is named for bauxite, the source ore for aluminum, which was found in abundant quantities in the area and became a source of aluminium refining. ...

. During his childhood, his parents, Don Williams Utley and Valeria Haney, moved him to northwestern Indiana, where he attended Dayton High School in Dayton, Indiana. He attended nearby

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, receiving a Bachelor of Science in history. He then attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

for graduate school, receiving a Master of Arts in history in 1952. Following graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1952 and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in May 1954. After army service, he joined the National Park Service. He also served in the Army Reserves, archiving the rank of captain. In 1997 he was awarded the

Samuel Eliot Morison Prize The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of techno ...

for lifetime achievement given by the

Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...

Selected bibliography

*(The Lamar Series in Western History)''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, (2012). *''Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, United States (January 30, 2007). *''Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers''. Oxford University Press, United States (March 22, 2002). *''Indian Wars''. With Wilcomb E. Washburn.

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Boston Financial District. It was formerly known as the Houghto ...

, New York (2002). Originally published by New York: American Heritage Press, Inc., 1977. *''A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific''.

Henry Holt & Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in the fields of American ...

(1997). *''Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot''. Henry Holt & Company (1993). Originally published as ''The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull''. *

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press (UNP) was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the University of Ne ...

(1989). *''Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier''.

University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...

(1988). * *''High Noon In Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier''.

University of New Mexico Press The University of New Mexico Press (UNMP) is a university press at the University of New Mexico. It was founded in 1929 and published pamphlets for the university in its early years before expanding into quarterlies and books. Its administrativ ...

(1987). *''The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890''. University of New Mexico Press (1984). *''Bluecoats and Redskins: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866 - 1891'', Cassell (1975). *''Clash of Cultures: Fort Bowie and the Chiricahua Apaches''.

Washington DC (1977). *''Frontier Regulars; the United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891''. Macmillan, New York (1973). *''Frontiersmen in Blue; the United States Army and the Indian, 1848-1865''. Macmillan, New York (1967). *''The Last Days of the Sioux Nation''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut (1963).

References

External links

An Interview with Robert M. Utley on the History of Historic Preservation in the National Park Service—1947-1980
*[http://friendslittlebighorn.com/interviewrobertutley.htm Interview with Robert Utley, board member of Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield since 2001, where he brings us forward with his life since the publication of his memoirs, Custer and Me.] * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utley, Robert M. 1929 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians of the American West Historians of the United States Purdue University alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni People from Bauxite, Arkansas Military personnel from Arkansas Writers from Arkansas American male non-fiction writers United States Army officers United States Army reservists