Henry Dwight Sedgwick

Born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on September 24, 1861, Henry Dwight Sedgwick graduated from Harvard College in 1882, was admitted to the bar in 1884, and practiced law in New York City with his father. Around 1898, he left the law behind and turned fully to writing and travel, building a long career as a historian, biographer, and essayist.

Sedgwick wrote widely and often, with books including A Short History of Italy (1905), Ignatius Loyola (1923), Cortes the Conqueror (1926), Memoirs of an Epicurean (1940), and Horace: A Biography (1947). His work shows a steady interest in major historical personalities and in bringing the past to life for general readers.

He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1893. Sedgwick lived a notably long life, dying on January 5, 1957, and left behind a substantial body of writing as well as personal and literary papers now preserved by the Massachusetts Historical Society.