David Herbert Donald

A Mississippian by birth, David Herbert Donald (1920 – 2009) was the Charles Warren Professor of American History (emeritus from 1991) at Harvard University. He received the Pulitzer Prize twice (1961 and 1988), several honorary degrees, and served as president of the Southern Historical Association.

Prof. Donald wrote over thirty books, including well received biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Wolfe and Charles Sumner. He specialized in the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, and in the history of the South.Donald is best known for his biography of Abraham Lincoln, which was praised by Eric Foner as the best biography of Lincoln, and by Bill Clinton who called it "one of the best biographies on any person in politics," as well as his Pulitzer-Prize winning biographies of politician Charles Sumner and writer Thomas Wolfe.

Articles by this Author

Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson, December 1956 | Vol. 8, No. 1

One of the saddest tales in American history tells how a well-intentioned President lost a dazzling opportunity

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