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John Arthur Garraty (July 4, 1920 – December 19, 2007) was an American historian and biographer. He specialized largely in American political and economic history.

Garraty earned an undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College in 1941 and completed his doctorate at Columbia University in 1948. During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine as a swimming instructor. His 1953 biography, Henry Cabot Lodge (Knopf, 1953), was the first scholarly and authoritative life of the Massachusetts politician Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924); a notable feature of that book was the set of footnotes written at Garraty's invitation by Lodge's grandson, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902-1985), expressing disagreement with some of Garraty's interpretations and findings. He taught at Michigan State University for 12 years before joining the Columbia University History Department in 1959. Garraty also served as the president of the Society of American Historians. He retired from teaching at Columbia in 1990.

An author of many textbooks, Garraty's works include the college and high school history textbook The American Nation, later editions of which were co-written with Mark C. Carnes. Among Garraty's other works were many biographies, and a study of the craft of biography, The Art of Biography (Knopf, 1960). In the 1970s and 1960 Garraty was a historical consultant on various film and media projects, most prominently the School House Rock children's television shorts. Garraty co-edited The Columbia History of the World (1972) and was one of the general editors of the American National Biography, a project which he completed in his retirement.

Bibliography

• online editions of 53 books written or edited by Garraty

References

1. ^ Fox, Margalit (December 26, 2007). "John A. Garraty, Historian and Trailblazing Biographer, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
2. ^ Mieczkowski, Yanek (March 31, 2008). "Remembering John Garraty". Columbia College. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
3. "History – The Society of American Historians". Columbia University. Society of American Historians. 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
4. "John Garraty". IMDb. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
5. "Elbow Room". YouTube. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
6. Garraty, John A.; Gay, Peter, eds. (1972). The Columbia History of the World. Harper and Row.

External links

• 1920 births
• 2007 deaths
• American male biographers
• American male non-fiction writers
• American textbook writers
• Brooklyn College alumni
• Columbia University alumni
• Columbia University faculty
• Historians from New York (state)
• Michigan State University faculty
• People from Sag Harbor, New York
• 20th-century American biographers
• 20th-century American educators
• 20th-century American historians
• 20th-century American male writers
• United States Merchant Mariners of World War II