John Richard Alden


John Richard Alden was an American historian and author of a number of books on the era of the American Revolutionary War.

Biography

Alden graduated from the University of Michigan with A.B. in 1929), M.A. in 1930, and Ph.D. in 1939. After teaching at Michigan State Normal College, and subsequently at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he taught at the University of Nebraska from 1945 to 1955. He joined the faculty of Duke University in 1955, where he chaired the Department of History from 1957 to 1960, and in 1963 was appointed James B. Duke Professor of History. He retired from Duke University in 1976. He also taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. He was a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review.
In 1934, Alden married Pearl B. Wells. In 1980 he married Kathleen C. Smith, who died in 1990. Upon his death in 1991 he was survived by a daughter from his first marriage and by a granddaughter.

Awards and honors