author
Peter Burchard
1921–2004
Best known for bringing American history vividly to life, this writer and illustrator created nonfiction and fiction for both young readers and adults. His book about Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment later became a major source for the film Glory.
1 Audiobook
North by night
by Peter Burchard
About the author
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1921, Peter Burchard was an American author, freelance designer, and illustrator. He wrote more than twenty books across fiction and nonfiction, with much of his work aimed at making history feel immediate and human.
His best-known book, One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment (1965), explored the story of Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first African American units in the Union Army. The book went on to become a major historical source for the 1989 film Glory, helping introduce that history to a much wider audience.
Burchard also wrote about figures such as Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, and he was remembered as an authority on the Civil War and Black history. He died in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 2004.