Richard S. Slotkin

Olin Professor of English and American Studies, Emeritus. His award-winning trilogy on the myth of the frontier Regeneration Through Violence (1973), Fatal Environment (1985), and Gunfighter Nation (1992) demonstrated the continuity of a pattern of thought from colonial times to modern cinema and politics, and helped to define a new discipline within American Studies. Lost Battalions (2005) and No Quarter (2009) combine military and social history to show how the Great War and the Civil War transformed the nation's understanding of race, ethnicity, and social justice. He has also written three historical novels, which also deal with race, violence, and American Myth: Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln (2000); The Return of Henry Starr (1988); and The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War (1980). In 1995, he received the Mary C. Turpie Award from the American Studies Association for his contributions to teaching and program building in American Studies.