Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David M. Kennedy will speak at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 2, in Watkins Auditorium of the UC.

“Tom Brokaw immortalized the generation which was raised in the Depression and fought the Second World War as the ‘Greatest Generation’,” said Dr. Dan McDonough, UTM Honors Programs director. “In his recent Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, David Kennedy explains how these men and women surmounted the catastrophic events they faced to triumph over fear and earn their place as the ‘greatest generation’.”

The 858-page book, 11 years in the writing, is a comprehensive history of the Great Depression, the New Deal and World War II. It is the fourth volume in an Oxford University Press series of American history.

A native of Seattle, Kennedy received his bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University and a master of arts degree and doctorate from Yale University. He has taught at Stanford University since 1967 and is currently the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History. In addition to his service at Stanford, Kennedy has held visiting professorships at several prominent universities, including the University of Florence and Oxford University.

His numerous books and articles have been honored with several important awards. His first book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, received the Bancroft Prize in 1971, while “Over Here: The First World War and American Society” (1980) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His most prominent book, Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999), received both the Pulitzer and Francis Parkman Prizes.

The Pulitzer Prize is the highest award for print journalism and literary achievements.

With a style that beautifully and masterfully interweaves the political, social, economic and cultural forces of the time, Kennedy has written some of the best histories of the American people during the 20th century and the period of the world wars.

Kennedy has authored several books on the John F. Kennedy era and case studies in American leadership.

Kennedy is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is the author of The American Pageant, a popular collegiate American history textbook.

His visit will be co-sponsored by UTM Honors Programs, the Vertical Immersion Project and the Department of History and Philosophy. The presentation is free and open to the public.