Description

James Ford Rhodes (1848-1927), was an American industrialist and historian born in Cleveland, Ohio. His major work, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 appeared in seven volumes, 1893-1906; the eight-volume edition appeared in 1920. The one-volume version History of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (1918), earned him a Pulitzer Prize in History in 1918. His work focuses on national politics. Using newspapers and published memoirs, Rhodes meticulously reconstructed the process by which major national decisions were made. He carefully evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of all the major leaders, and is well regarded for his lack of bias. He emphasized slavery and anti-slavery as causes of the Civil War, and bemoaned the corruption of the Reconstruction Republican governments in Washington and the Southern states. He was awarded the Loubat Prize of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1901) and the gold medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1910). Oxford and many American universities gave him honorary degrees. Amongst his other works are: History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley (1919) and Historical Essays (1909).