Samuel Ruthven Williamson Jr. (born November 10, 1935, in Bogalusa,

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

) is an American historian. He was President and Vice-Chancellor of

The University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee, Sewanee, Tennessee, United States. It ...

(Sewanee),."About Sewanee,
"Previous Vice-Chancellors"
Accessed Dec 18, 2015 He is the author of numerous books including ''Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War'' (1991).

Life and career

He received a B.A. from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and both a M.A. and Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He taught history as an army officer at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

from 1963 to 1966, at Harvard University from 1966 to 1972 where he was Senior Tutor of Kirkland House and assistant to the Dean of the College and at the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

from 1972 to 1988, where he served as Dean of the College and provost of the university. In 1988 he became Vice-Chancellor (President) of Sewanee: The University of the South and retired from that position in 2000. He then taught history at Sewanee until December 2005. He is a specialist in modern history, particularly the origins of World War I. His first book on the subject, ''The Politics of Grand Strategy: Britain and France Prepare for War, 1904-1914'' won the

George Louis Beer Prize The AHA Prize in European International History, formerly named the George Louis Beer Prize, is an award given by the American Historical Association for the best book in European international history from 1895 to the present written by a United S ...

of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

for best book in international history upon publication in 1969. He went on to write four more books on World War I:''The Origins of a Tragedy: July 1919'' (1979), ''Essays on World War I'' (1983), ''Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War'' (1991), and ''July 1914: Soldiers, Statesmen and the Coming of the Great War'' with Russell Van Wyk (2003). He is also the author of ''The Origins of U.S. Nuclear Strategy, 1945-1953'' with Steve Rearden (1993). In 2003, he became the director of the Sewanee History Project for which he wrote ''Sewanee Sesquicentennial History: The Making of the University of the South'' (2008) and ''The Sesquicentennial of the Laying of the Cornerstone of the University of the South October 10, 1860'' (2010). He also edited five more books published by the Sewanee History Project: ''Ecce Quam Bonum'' (2007), ''Sewanee Perspectives on the History of the University of the South'' (2009), ''The Liberal Arts at Sewanee'' (2009), ''Sewanee Places: A Historical Gazetteer of the Domain of the University of the South'' (2010) and ''Yea Sewanee's Right! A Pictorial History of the University of the South'' (2011).WorldCat author record
/ref> He is married to Joan Andress and the father of three children: George Samuel Williamson, Treeby Williamson Brown and Thaddeus M. Williamson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Samuel 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 1935 births Living people Harvard University alumni Tulane University alumni Heads of universities and colleges in the United States American male non-fiction writers