biography
| name: |
Durant, Will(iam James)
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1885–1981)
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| biography:
| Historians, husband and wife, born in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA, and Proskurov (now Khmelnitski), Ukraine, respectively. After working as a reporter, he went to Seton Hall College (now University) in New Jersey to teach and to study for the Catholic priesthood, but left in 1911 and took up radical politics in New York City. In 1913 he married his student, Chaya (or Ada) Kaufman (1898–1981), and she later took the name Ariel. He became director of the Labor Temple School (1914) while studying at Columbia University (1917 PhD). When his lectures on philosophy at the Labor Temple School were published as The Story of Philosophy (1926), it became such a best-seller that he was able to resign and write full time. After publishing various books, he produced Our Oriental Heritage (1935), the first of his long-planned multi-volume Story of Civilization. He moved to Los Angeles and for the next 40 years largely devoted himself to this project, the 11th and final volume appearing in 1975. His wife had been assisting him for some years, and she was credited as co-author of the last five volumes. The 10th volume received the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 and the Durants received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. Academic historians faulted the books on various grounds, but their texture and narrative, a colourful tapestry of history, culture, and biographies, made the series one of the most successful popularizations of all time, and introduced millions of readers to intellectual history. |
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