William H. McNeill
William H. McNeill | |
|---|---|
Holding first copies of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History on his 87th birthday | |
| Born | October 31, 1917 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Died | July 8, 2016 (aged 98) Torrington, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, historian, writer |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Darbishire (married 1946–2006) |
| Children | J. R. McNeill, Andrew, Ruth, Deborah |
| Awards | National Book Award National Humanities Medal |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago Cornell University |
| Thesis | "The Influence of the Potato on Irish History" (1947) |
| Doctoral advisor | Carl L. Becker |
| Influences | Arnold J. Toynbee |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | World history |
| Institutions | University of Chicago |
| Notable works | The Rise of the West, Plagues and Peoples |
| Influenced | John Lewis Gaddis, David Christian |
William Hardy McNeill (October 31, 1917 – July 8, 2016) was an American historian and author, noted for his argument that contact and exchange among civilizations is what drives human history forward, first postulated in The Rise of the West (1963). He was the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1947 until his retirement in 1987. In 1980-81 he held the George Eastman Professorship at the University of Oxford.