Donald Kagan

{{Short description|American historian and classicist (1932–2021)}}{{Infobox academic

| name = Donald Kagan

| image = Dkaganbiopic.png

| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|5|1}}

| birth_place = Kuršėnai, Lithuania

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|8|6|1932|5|1}}

| death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| spouse = {{marriage|Myrna Dabrusky|1954|2017|end=d.}}

| children = {{hlist|Robert|Frederick}}

| awards = National Humanities Medal (2002)

| discipline = Classics

| workplaces = Cornell University
Yale University

| signature = Donald Kagan signature.png

| signature_size = 173px

| education = Brooklyn College (BA)
Brown University (MA)
Ohio State University (PhD)

| main_interests = Peloponnesian War

| doctoral_advisor = William F. McDonald

| thesis_title = Politics and policy in Corinth

| thesis_url = http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1231160948

| thesis_year = 1958

}}

Donald Kagan ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|eɪ|g|ən}}; May 1, 1932{{spnd}}August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece. He formerly taught in the Department of History at Cornell University. Kagan was considered among the foremost American scholars of Greek history and is notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War.

Early life and education

Kagan was born in Kuršėnai, Lithuania, on May 1, 1932,{{cite news|title=Donald Kagan, Leading Historian of Ancient Greece, Dies at 89|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/books/donald-kagan-dead.html|first=Clay|last=Risen|date=August 13, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2021|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813233006/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/books/donald-kagan-dead.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Donald Kagan, celebrated historian of ancient Greece, dies at 89|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/donald-kagan-dead/2021/08/12/c0824674-fa29-11eb-8a67-f14cd1d28e47_story.html|first=Hillel|last=Italie|date=August 13, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post|agency=Associated Press}} to a Jewish family. His father, Shmuel, died before Kagan turned two years old, and his mother, Leah (Benjamin), subsequently emigrated to the United States with Kagan and his sister. He grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he played football, before becoming the first person in his family to go to college. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1954, received a master's degree in classics from Brown University in 1955, and a Ph.D. in history from the Ohio State University in 1958.{{cite web|publisher=yalealumnimagazine.com|url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/02_04/kagan.html|title=Lion in Winter|access-date=August 19, 2007|date=April 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809010253/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/02_04/kagan.html|archive-date=August 9, 2007}}

Academic career

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?62796-1/origins-war Booknotes interview with Kagan on On the Origins of War, March 12, 1995], C-SPAN| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?161612-1/america-sleeps Presentation by Donald Kagan and Frederick Kagan on While America Sleeps, November 29, 2000], C-SPAN| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?169430-1/peloponnesian-war Presentation by Kagan on The Peloponnesian War, October 3, 2003], C-SPAN}}

Donald Kagan's political views underwent a significant shift around 1969, moving from liberalism towards neoconservatism. This change occurred following student protests at Cornell University, which led to the establishment of a Black Studies program following the student occupation of Willard Straight Hall. Kagan felt the university administration's response was inadequate, deeply impacting his political outlook. He became one of the original signatories of the 1997 Statement of Principles by the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century, co-founded by his son Robert.{{cite web|publisher=newamericancentury.org |access-date=August 19, 2007 |title=Statement of Principles |url=http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303065219/http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303065219/http://www.newamericancentury.org/aboutpnac.htm|title=About PNAC|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 3, 2011}} In the lead-up to the 2000 presidential elections, Kagan and his other son, Frederick, published While America Sleeps, advocating for increased defense spending.

Known for his prolific research on the Peloponnesian War; Kagan is also famous for his work On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace, a comparative history examining four major conflicts (the Peloponnesian War, World War I, the Second Punic War, and World War II) and one non-conflict (the Cuban Missile Crisis) with the purpose of identifying how and why wars do or do not begin. Remarking in 2015 on the work, Kagan summarized the causes of war by quoting Thucydides: "You know, Thucydides has this great insight. I wish I could get people to pay attention – he has one of his speakers at the beginning of the war say, 'Why do people go to war? Out of fear, honor, and interest.' Well, everybody knows interest, and fear is very credible. Nobody takes honor seriously."{{cite web|url=http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/donald-kagan/|title=Donald Kagan on Conversations with Bill Kristol|work=Conversations with Bill Kristol|access-date=March 25, 2016|archive-date=March 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324153728/http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/donald-kagan/|url-status=live}} Kagan believes honor – better understood as "prestige" – was crucial in beginning World War I, for example.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded Kagan the National Humanities Medal in 2002, and selected him to deliver the 2005 Jefferson Lecture.{{Cite web|url=https://neh.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/11215/3765/LIB40_006-public.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=In Defense of History (2005 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities)|last=Kagan|first=Donald|date=May 18, 2005|website=NEH|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=July 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701154228/https://neh.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/11215/3765/LIB40_006-public.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|url-status=live}} Kagan titled his lecture "In Defense of History";Donald Kagan,[https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/donald-kagan-lecture "In Defense of History,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904205450/https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/donald-kagan-lecture |date=September 4, 2017 }} text of Jefferson Lecture at NEH website. he argued that history is of primary importance in the study of the humanities.Philip Kennicott, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051300041_pf.html "Yale Historian Donald Kagan, Mixing the Old And the Neo,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004111329/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051300041_pf.html |date=October 4, 2018 }} The Washington Post, May 13, 2005.George F. Will, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/18/AR2005051802040.html "History's Higher Ground,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116014521/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/18/AR2005051802040.html |date=November 16, 2016 }} The Washington Post, May 19, 2005. In his The New Yorker review, George Steiner said of Kagan's four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War: "The temptation to acclaim Kagan's four volumes as the foremost work of history produced in North America in this century is vivid."

Until his retirement in 2013, Kagan was Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University.{{cite news|title=Donald Kagan, celebrated historian of the ancient world and revered teacher|url=https://news.yale.edu/2021/08/10/donald-kagan-celebrated-historian-ancient-world-and-revered-teacher|date=August 10, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2021|publisher=Yale University|archive-date=August 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812213604/https://news.yale.edu/2021/08/10/donald-kagan-celebrated-historian-ancient-world-and-revered-teacher|url-status=live}} His "The Origins of War" was one of Yale's most popular courses for twenty-five years, and was the basis of a book he published in 1995.{{cite news|title=On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1995-03-01/origins-war-and-preservation-peace|first=Eliot A.|last=Cohen|date=March 1, 1995|access-date=August 13, 2021|magazine=Foreign Affairs|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814061429/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1995-03-01/origins-war-and-preservation-peace|url-status=live}} Over an even longer timespan he taught "Introduction to Ancient Greek History",{{Cite web|url=https://oyc.yale.edu/classics/clcv-205|title=Introduction to Ancient Greek History | Open Yale Courses|website=oyc.yale.edu|access-date=June 24, 2019|archive-date=August 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815175827/https://oyc.yale.edu/classics/clcv-205|url-status=live}} and upper level History and Classical Civilization seminars focusing on topics from Thucydides to the Lacedaimonian hegemony.{{cite news|title=Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War|url=https://hertogfoundation.org/courses/thucydides-and-the-peloponnesian-war|access-date=August 13, 2021|publisher=Hertog Foundation|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814061431/https://hertogfoundation.org/courses/thucydides-and-the-peloponnesian-war|url-status=live}}

Personal life and family

Kagan married Myrna Dabrusky in 1954. They met while studying at Thomas Jefferson High School together, and remained married for 62 years until her death in 2017. Together, they had two children: Robert and Frederick.

Kagan died on August 6, 2021, at a retirement home in Washington, D.C. He was 89 years old.{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/donald-kagan-leading-neo-conservative-historian-dead-at-89/|title=Donald Kagan, leading neo-conservative historian, dead at 89|newspaper=Times of Israel|accessdate=August 11, 2021|archive-date=August 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817213255/https://www.timesofisrael.com/donald-kagan-leading-neo-conservative-historian-dead-at-89/|url-status=live}}

Positions held

1987–1988 Acting Director of Athletics, Yale University{{cite news|title=Yale Professor Turns to Sports|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/04/nyregion/yale-professor-turns-to-sports.html|first=Jack|last=Cavanaugh|date=August 13, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2021|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=August 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814060132/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/04/nyregion/yale-professor-turns-to-sports.html|url-status=live}}
1989–1992 Dean, Yale College

Works

Kagan, Donald. (1965). The Great Dialogue: A History of Greek Political Thought from Homer to Polybius. New York: Free Press. {{OCLC|63980809}}
Kagan, Donald. (1969). The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-0501-7}}.
Kagan, Donald. (1974). The Archidamian War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-0889-X}}.
Kagan, Donald. (1981). The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-1367-2}}.
Kagan, Donald. (1987). The Fall of the Athenian Empire. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-1935-2}}
Kagan, Donald. (1991). Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy. New York: The Free Press. {{ISBN|0-684-86395-2}}.
Kagan, Donald. (1995). On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace. New York: Doubleday. {{ISBN|0-385-42374-8}}.
Kagan, Donald and Kagan, Frederick. (2000). While America Sleeps. New York: St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN|0-312-20624-0}}.
Kagan, Donald, Craig, Albert M., Graham, William A., Ozment, Steven, and Turner, Frank M. (2000). The Heritage of World Civilizations. {{ISBN|978-0130160430}}
Kagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven, and Turner, Frank M. (2003). The Western Heritage. New York: Prentice Hall. {{ISBN|0-13-182839-8}}.
Kagan, Donald. (2003). The Peloponnesian War. New York: Viking Press. {{ISBN|0-670-03211-5}}.
Kagan, Donald. (2009). Thucydides: The Reinvention of History. New York: Viking Press. {{ISBN|0-670-02129-6}}.
Kagan, Donald. (2013). Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece. Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-1400846306}}

References

External links

[https://classics.yale.edu/people/donald-kagan Kagan Classics faculty page at Yale]
[https://oyc.yale.edu/classics/clcv-205 Introduction to Ancient Greek History]—video course with Prof. Donald Kagan from Open Yale Courses (click the "Sessions" tab to access the videos; [https://web.archive.org/web/20210815175827/https://oyc.yale.edu/classics/clcv-205 archive])
{{C-SPAN|38625}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090117083651/http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/kagan/biography.html NEH biography]
{{Internet Archive author | same= Donald Kagan }}

Category:1932 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:20th-century American historians

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:American classical scholars

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American military historians

Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent

Category:Brooklyn College alumni

Category:Brown University alumni