Allan Nevins

author

Allan Nevins

1890–1971

A prizewinning historian and biographer, he helped bring American history to a wide audience through graceful writing, ambitious storytelling, and years of teaching at Columbia University. He is especially remembered for major works on the Civil War era and for shaping how modern readers encounter the American past.

1 Audiobook

The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism

The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism

by Allan Nevins

About the author

Born in Camp Point, Illinois, in 1890, Allan Nevins became one of the best-known American historians of the 20th century. He studied at the University of Illinois, worked for years in journalism in New York, and later joined Columbia University, where he taught American history until his retirement in 1958.

Nevins wrote widely on U.S. political, cultural, and business history, and he was also admired as a biographer. His books on Grover Cleveland and Hamilton Fish, along with his sweeping studies of the coming of the Civil War and the war itself, helped make large historical subjects feel lively and readable for general audiences as well as scholars.

He also played an important role beyond the classroom and the page. Nevins was involved in preserving historical records and oral history, and his long career left a lasting mark on how American history has been researched, written, and shared. He died in 1971.