Gerhard L. Weinberg, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has won a lifetime achievement award in military writing.
Gerhard Weinberg |
Gerhard L. Weinberg, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has won a lifetime achievement award in military writing.
The Pritzker Military Library Literature Award recognizes a living author for a body of work that has profoundly enriched the public’s understanding of American military history. The award is presented by the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. The winner receives a $100,000 honorarium.
“Dr. Weinberg is truly a gifted writer of military history who has devoted his skills and talent to produce ‘A World at Arms,’ perhaps the finest study of World War II ever attempted by a single scholar,” said James N. Pritzker, founder of the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago and a retired Army colonel.
Weinberg, a member since 1974 of the history faculty in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, received his master’s and doctorate degrees in history from the University of Chicago.
Weinberg was born in Hanover, Germany, on Jan. 1, 1928. He was expelled for being Jewish in 1938 and moved to England. In 1940, he and his family moved to the United States. After graduating from Albany High School in Albany, N.Y., he enrolled in the New York State College for Teachers. He later served the U.S. Army in occupied Japan, teaching history and government as well as literacy classes to American soldiers. He is the author of many books on World War II.
The 2009 award screening committee described Weinberg’s work as “achieving the all-too-rare quality of being both encyclopedic and highly readable … monumental, comprehensive, magisterial, indispensable.”
Weinberg will receive the award on Oct. 24 at the library’s annual gala in Chicago.
Web sites: www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org, www.tawanifoundation.org
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589