William H. Goetzmann

William Harry Goetzmann was an American historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there. His work on the American West won him the highest prizes for historians, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. He wrote and published extensively on American philosophy, American political history, and the American arts. An advocate for the importance of history as a public discussion, he served in various capacities in television and film production, notably for PBS. At the time of his death he was the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair Emeritus in History and American Studies. His last book was Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism (2009).