Richard Slotkin Explained

Richard Slotkin
Birth Date:	8 November 1942
Birth Name:	Richard Sidney Slotkin
Birth Place:	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation:	Cultural critic, historian, novelist
Workplaces:	Wesleyan University

Richard Sidney Slotkin (born November 8, 1942)^[1] is a cultural critic and historian. He is the Olin Professor of English and American Studies, Emeritus at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and, since 2010, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^{[2] [3]} Slotkin writes novels, predominantly historical ones, alongside his historical research, and uses the process of writing the novels to clarify and refine his historical work.^[4]

Education and career

Richard Sidney Slotkin was born on November 8, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.A. degree from Brooklyn College in 1963 and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University in 1967.^[5]

He started teaching at Wesleyan University in 1966 and helped establish the school's American studies and film studies program.^[6] He remained at Wesleyan until his retirement in 2009.

Awards

Regeneration Through Violence received the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association as the Best Book in American History (1973) and was a Finalist for the National Book Award in 1974.^{[7] [8]} Gunfighter Nation was a National Book Award Finalist in 1993.^[9] In 1995, Slotkin received the Mary C. Turpie Award of the American Studies Association for his contributions to teaching and program-building.^[10] His novel Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln won the 2000 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction.^[11]

In 1976, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree in Art Education from Wesleyan University.

Works

• Regeneration Through Violence: the Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860 (Wesleyan University Press, 1973)
• The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War (Atheneum, 1980)
• Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890, (Atheneum, 1985)
• The Return of Henry Starr (Atheneum, 1988)
• Gunfighter Nation: Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America (Atheneum, 1992)
• Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln (Henry Holt and Company, 2000)
• Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality (Henry Holt and Company, 2005)
• No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 (Random House, 2009)
• The Long Road to Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution (W. W. Norton & Company, 2012)^[12]
• A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America (Belknap Press, 2024)

External links

• • Richard Slotkin Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Slotkin, Richard 1942– Encyclopedia.com. 2021-05-03. www.encyclopedia.com.
2. Web site: Academy Member Connection. www.amacad.org.
3. Web site: Richard S. Slotkin - Faculty, Wesleyan University. www.wesleyan.edu. 2017-09-27.
4. Rethinking History . 9. 2/3. June–September 2005. 221–236. Richard. Slotkin. Fiction for the Purposes of History. 10.1080/13642520500149152. 145764187.
5. Web site: Slotkin, Richard, 1942- Archives at Yale. 2021-05-03. archives.yale.edu.
6. News: Richard Slotkin Guests BillMoyers.com. BillMoyers.com. 2017-09-27.
7. Web site: Albert J. Beveridge Award Recipients | AHA . American Historical Association . 2019-07-30.
8. Web site: Regeneration Through Violence . National Book Foundation . 2019-07-30.
9. Web site: Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America . National Book Foundation . 2019-07-30.
10. Web site: SelectedWorks - Richard Slotkin. Berkeley Electronic. Press. works.bepress.com.
11. Web site: The Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction. Louisiana State University. 9 August 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721235350/http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/shaara.html. 21 July 2011.
12. Web site: Swansburg. John. 2012-08-04. The Civil War's Most Chicken General. 2021-05-03. Slate Magazine. en.