Skip to main content

Ray Allen Billington

Historian Ray Allen Billington (1903–1981)was the recipient of the 1974 Bancroft Prize and President of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) from 1962-1963. He authored numerous books including The Far Western Frontier and Land of Savagery, Land of Promise: The European Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Century. The Ray Allen Billington Prize is given biennially by the OAH to the author of the best book about American frontier history.

Articles by this Author

Our Frontier Heritage of Waste
Maria Monk’s lurid “disclosures” and Samuel Morse’s dire warnings launched a crusade of bigotry that almost won the White House
A distinguished historian finds that after 65 years Frederick Jackson Turner’s disputed “frontier theory” is still a valid key to understanding modern America
Ably led by Brigham Young, the Mormons made an orderly march to Utah and created ‘Zion” with smooth efficiency