Henry Steele Commager

A longtime member of the editorial advisory board of AMERICAN HERITAGE, Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) taught at New York University, Columbia, and Amherst College, and authored more than forty books. He first gained attention in 1930 as co-author, with Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison, of The Growth of the American Republic, which became a standard textbook for decades. His anthology Documents of American History (1938) remained a widely used collection of primary sources for many years. Among his forty books and 700 essays and reviews, his principal scholarly work was The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and Character since the 1880's (1950)

Articles by this Author

Science, Learning, And The Claims Of Nationalism, April 1972 | Vol. 23, No. 3

We have come a long way from the philosophy of the Enlightenment...a shift that represents a retreat rather than an advance, argues the noted historian.

Should The Historian Make Moral Judgments?, February 1966 | Vol. 17, No. 2

By no means, said W. H. Prescott. Absolutely, said Lord Acton. The question remains hard—and intriguing

The Search For A Usable Past, February 1965 | Vol. 16, No. 2

A distinguished historian describes how America, suddenly thrust into nationhood without a history of its own, set out to create one. And what a splendid achievement it was!

Jefferson and the Book-burners, August 1958 | Vol. 9, No. 5

When he offered Congress his library, his foes charged that it was full of books which “never ought to be read” and probably ought to be burned

The Constitution: Was It An Economic Document?, December 1958 | Vol. 10, No. 1

A leading American historian challenges the long-entrenched interpretation originated by the late Charles A. Beard

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