author
Allen Johnson
1870–1931
A historian with a gift for making the American past readable, he helped shape how early 20th-century readers encountered U.S. history and biography. He is especially remembered for major editorial work that brought scholarship to a wide audience.
3 Audiobooks
Jefferson and His Colleagues: A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty
by Allen Johnson
Stephen A. Douglas: A Study in American Politics
by Allen Johnson
Union and Democracy
by Allen Johnson
About the author
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1870, Allen Johnson became an American historian, teacher, biographer, and editor. He taught history at Iowa College, Bowdoin College, and later Yale University, building a career that combined academic scholarship with clear, accessible writing.
He wrote works including Stephen A. Douglas: A Study in American Politics and The Historian and Historical Evidence. He also played an important editorial role in large reference and history projects, most notably the Chronicles of America series and the Dictionary of American Biography, work for which he is especially well known.
Johnson died in 1931. His reputation rests on more than his own books: he helped organize and present American history in ways that reached both scholars and general readers.