Bernard DeVoto
A pugnacious historian and fierce conservationist who championed the American West with a scholar's rigor and a polemicist's fire.
1897–1955 (age 58)·American historian and author·Birthday: January 11·The Lost Generation
Biography
Bernard DeVoto was a man of formidable contradictions: a midwesterner who became the definitive voice of the West, a novelist who found his greatest power in nonfiction, and a gregarious intellectual with a talent for ferocious literary feuds. From his 'Easy Chair' column in Harper's Magazine, he held court for decades, opining on everything from national parks to the dangers of censorship with unwavering conviction. He wrote monumental, Pulitzer-winning histories like "Across the Wide Missouri" that changed how Americans understood the frontier, not as a mythic space but as a complex, human drama. DeVoto was an early and loud defender of public lands, taking on cattle barons and timber interests with his typewriter as a weapon. His legacy is that of a public intellectual who believed history mattered in the present tense and fought to protect the nation's physical and intellectual landscape.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Bernard was born in 1897, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Bernard Was Born
The biggest hits of 1897
Bernard's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1897Born
President: William McKinley
1902Started school
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1910Became a teenager
Halley's Comet makes its closest approach
President: William Howard Taft
1913Could drive
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1915Could vote
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1918Turned 21
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
1927Turned 30
Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic; The Jazz Singer premieres
President: Calvin Coolidge"My Blue Heaven" — Gene Austin
1937Turned 40
Hindenburg disaster; Golden Gate Bridge opens
Gas: $0.20/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" — Ella FitzgeraldBest Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
1947Turned 50
India gains independence; the Dead Sea Scrolls found
Gas: $0.23/galHome: $6,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Near You" — Francis CraigBest Picture: Gentleman's Agreement
1955Died at 58
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
Key Achievements
- Won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1948 for 'Across the Wide Missouri,' a landmark study of the Western fur trade.
- Wrote the influential 'The Easy Chair' column for Harper's Magazine for over 20 years, shaping public opinion on conservation and civil liberties.
- His trilogy 'The Course of Empire' is a seminal work of American history that traced the exploration of the North American continent.
- Was a pivotal early advocate for the conservation of public lands, using his platform to defend the National Park System from commercial exploitation.
- Edited the journals of Lewis and Clark, making these crucial primary sources accessible to a wide audience.
Did You Know?
He taught at Northwestern University and Harvard, but his combative style and lack of a PhD made his academic career rocky.
He wrote several successful mystery novels under the pseudonym 'John August.'
He served as a speechwriter for Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 and 1956 campaigns.
He engaged in a famous, long-running feud with critic Van Wyck Brooks over the interpretation of American literary history.
“This is the American earth. This is our native land. This is where we belong.”
