Barbara W. Tuchman
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of The Guns of August
Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (January 30, 1912 – February 6, 1989) was an American historian, journalist and author. She won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for *The Guns of August* (1962), a best-selling history of the prelude to and the first month of World War I, and *Stilwell and the American Experience in China* (1971), a biography of General Joseph Stilwell. Born into a prominent family, her father was a banker, art collector, and owner of *The Nation* magazine, while her mother was the daughter of Henry Morgenthau, Woodrow Wilson’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. As a toddler, Tuchman was present during a pivotal naval pursuit she later chronicled in *The Guns of August*, traveling through Constantinople with her family. She studied history and literature at Radcliffe College, graduating in 1933. After college, she worked as a research assistant and spent a year in Japan, also covering the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent. During World War II, she served in the Office of War Information. She married internist Lester R. Tuchman in 1940, and they had three daughters. Her first book, *Bible and Sword*, was published in 1956, after which she devoted herself to writing history every few years. Tuchman favored a literary, narrative approach over academic conventions, arguing that graduate-level expectations would have stifled her writing. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978 and became the first female president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1979. She received the National Book Award in History for *A Distant Mirror* and delivered the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Jefferson Lecture in 1980. Though she never earned a graduate degree in history, she received numerous honorary degrees. Tuchman died in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut, following a stroke. A residential tower at Harvard College was named in her honor.
- born
- January 30, 1912
- died
- February 6, 1989
- field
- History, journalism, authorship
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Pulitzer Prize–winning narrative histories, including *The Guns of August* and *Stilwell and the American Experience in China*
Lore & Background
Barbara Wertheim was born January 30, 1912, the daughter of the banker Maurice Wertheim and his first wife Alma Morgenthau. Her father was an individual of wealth and prestige, the owner of The Nation magazine, president of the American Jewish Committee, prominent art collector, and a founder of the Theatre Guild. Her mother was the daughter of Henry Morgenthau, Woodrow Wilson's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. While she did not explicitly mention it in her 1962 book The Guns of August, Tuchman was present for one of the pivotal events of the book: the pursuit of the German battle cruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau. In her account of the pursuit she wrote, 'That morning [August 10, 1914] there arrived in Constantinople the small Italian passenger steamer which had witnessed the Gloucester's action against Goeben and Breslau. Among its passengers were the daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren of the American ambassador Mr. Henry Morgenthau.' She was a grandchild of Henry Morgenthau; she is referring to herself. This is confirmed in her later book Practicing History, in which she tells the story of her father, Maurice Wertheim, traveling from Constantinople to Jerusalem on August 29, 1914, to deliver funds to the Jewish community there. Thus, at two, Tuchman was present during the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau, which she documented 48 years later. Wertheim was influenced at an early age by the books of Lucy Fitch Perkins and G. A. Henty, as well as the historical novels of Alexandre Dumas. She attended the Walden School on Manhattan's Upper West Side. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe College in 1933, having studied history and literature. Following graduation, Wertheim worked as a volunteer research assistant at the Institute of Pacific Relations in New York, spending a year in Tokyo in 1934–35, including a month in China, then returning to the United States via the Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and on to Paris. She also contributed to The Nation as a correspondent until her father's sale of the publication in 1937, traveling to Valencia and Madrid to cover the Spanish Civil War. In 1940, Wertheim married Lester R. Tuchman (1904–1997), an internist, medical researcher and professor of clinical medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan. They had three daughters, including Jessica Mathews, who became president
Reader's Guide
Tuchman's historical works remain widely read and cited in both academic and popular history, maintaining her influence on historical scholarship decades after her death. Her bibliography includes: The Lost British Policy (1938), Bible and Sword (1956), The Zimmermann Telegram (1958), The Guns of August (1962), The Proud Tower (1966), Stilwell and the American Experience in China (1971), Notes from China (1972), A Distant Mirror (1978), Practicing History (1981), The March of Folly (1984), and The First Salute (1988). Other works include America's Security in the 1980s (1982) and The Book (1980).
Did You Know?
- Tuchman was present at age two during the pursuit of the German battle cruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau, a pivotal event in her book The Guns of August.
- She was the first female president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1979.
- Tuchman coined 'Tuchman's Law': 'The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold.'
- She never received a graduate degree in history but held honorary degrees from Yale, Harvard, and other universities.
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