John Clark Ridpath

author

John Clark Ridpath

1840–1900

A prolific 19th-century historian and educator, he helped bring world history to a broad American readership through ambitious, accessible reference works. His books blended scholarship with a strong storyteller’s instinct, making big subjects feel vivid and readable.

4 Audiobooks

The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.

The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.

by John Clark Ridpath

James Otis, the Pre-Revolutionist

James Otis, the Pre-Revolutionist

by John Clark Ridpath, G. Mercer (Graeme Mercer) Adam, Charles K. (Charles Keyser) Edmunds

Campfire and battlefield : an illustrated history of the campaigns and conflicts of the great Civil War

Campfire and battlefield : an illustrated history of the campaigns and conflicts of the great Civil War

by Rossiter Johnson, Selden Connor, John Brown Gordon, Henry W. B. (Henry Ward Beecher) Howard, O. O. (Oliver Otis) Howard, John Tyler Morgan, John Clark Ridpath

History of the United States

History of the United States

by John Clark Ridpath

About the author

Born in Putnam County, Indiana, in 1840, John Clark Ridpath grew up with limited early schooling and went on to study at Indiana Asbury University, now DePauw University. He later taught there for many years, serving in several academic roles and building a reputation as a gifted lecturer and popularizer of history.

Ridpath is best remembered for large-scale historical works such as Cyclopedia of Universal History and other widely read surveys of world and national history. Alongside his work as an author, he was also active as an editor, and his writing reached a broad general audience at a time when expansive, narrative histories were especially popular.

He died in New York City in 1900. Today, he is remembered less as a specialist scholar than as an energetic public historian—someone who worked to gather vast amounts of material and present it in a form ordinary readers could enjoy.