Geoffrey C. Ward
Geoffrey Champion Ward (born 1940) is an American editor, author, historian and writer of scripts for American history documentaries for public television. He is the author or co-author of 19 books, including 10 companion books to the documentaries he has written. He is the winner of seven Emmy Awards.
Biography
Youth
Ward was born in Newark, Ohio, and is a graduate of Oberlin College (1962), where he majored in art.[1] He had initially planned to be a painter.[1] His father was F. Champion Ward, educator and a vice-president of the Ford Foundation.[2] Ward spent some of his boyhood years in India.[1] Ward's great-grandfather was Ferdinand Ward, a 19th-century swindler whose ponzi scheme lead to a financial crash which bankrupted many investors, including Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas Nast. Ward wrote a book about the story of his great-grandfather, A Disposition to be Rich, in 2012.[3]
Career
Early career
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Ward was the founding editor of Audience Magazine (1970–1973) and the editor of
Later career
Ward has been a long-time collaborator of American documentary filmmaker
In 2006, the Organization of American Historians gave Ward their Friend of History Award for his outstanding contributions to American history:
Over the last twenty years Geoffrey Ward's writings on American History have had a greater influence and reached a wider audience than those of any other American writer and historian. [His] work is always his own, but he has also helped free ideas that otherwise might have been imprisoned in the academy and helped them find a wider world. He has helped academic historians understand the possibilities, limits, and demands of what has become the medium through which most Americans now get their history."[9]
The 2011 Burns/Ward collaboration,
In 2012, Ward published a biography of his great-grandfather Ferdinand Ward (1851–1925), known as the greatest swindler of the Gilded Age. A Disposition to be Rich was written with the assistance of private family materials.
India
Ward spent some of his boyhood years in India and has remained involved with India and in Indian issues. Working and writing about the ongoing struggle to save the Bengal tiger in the wild has meant friendships with great tiger men like
Jazz
Ward is involved in the world of jazz and has collaborated with
Personal life
Ward is married to the writer[16] and social/environmental activist[17] Diane Raines Ward. He has three children.
When he was nine years old, Ward contracted
Ward considers British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough to be "the best television writer in the history of the medium."[1]
Ward describes himself as a "lifelong liberal Democrat."[1]
Works
Books
- Lincoln's Thought and the Present (1976), Sangamon State University
- Treasures of the World: The Maharajas (1983), Time Life, New York
- Before the Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt, 1882-1905 (1985), Harper & Row; New York
- A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt (1989), Harper & Row.[21]
- The Civil War: An Illustrated History, (1990), with Ric and Ken Burns; based upon PBS television series, Alfred A. Knopf
- American Originals: The Private Worlds of Some Singular Men and Women (1991), HarperCollins
- Tiger-Wallahs: Encounters with the Men Who Tried to Save the Greatest of the Cats (1993), with Diane Raines Ward; HarperCollins
- Baseball: An Illustrated History (1994), with Ken Burns; Alfred A. Knopf
- Closest Companion: The Unknown Story of the Intimate Friendship Between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley (1995), Houghton Mifflin
- The West: An Illustrated History (1997), Little, Brown & Co
- The Year of the Tiger (1998), with Michael Nichols; National Geographic Books
- Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999), with Ken Burns; Alfred A. Knopf
- Jazz: A History of America's Music (2000), with Ken Burns; Alfred A. Knopf
- Mark Twain (2001), with Dayton Duncan; Alfred A. Knopf
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004); Alfred A. Knopf[22]
- The War: An Intimate History (2007), with Ken Burns; Alfred A. Knopf
- Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life (2008), with Wynton Marsalis; Random House
- A Disposition to be Rich: How a Small-Town Pastor's Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash and Made Himself the Best-Hated Man in the United States (2012); Alfred A. Knopf
- The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014) with Ken Burns; Alfred A. Knopf
- The Vietnam War: An Intimate History (2017) Alfred A. Knopf
Documentary film scripts
- With Ken Burns and Florentine Films; shown on Public Television
- The Vietnam War (2017)
- The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)
- Prohibition (2011, Emmy Award)
- The War(2007; Emmy Award, 2007)
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005 Emmy Award, 2005)
- Mark Twain (with Dayton Duncan, 2002)
- Jazz(2001)
- Not for Ourselves Alone (1999)
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1998)
- Thomas Jefferson (1997)
- The West(with Dayton Duncan, 1996)
- Baseball (principal writer 1994; Emmy Award, 1995)
- Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (writer, 1991)
- The Civil War(principal writer, 1990; Emmy Award, 1991)
- Thomas Hart Benton (writer,1989)
- The Congress (contributing writer,1989)
- The Statue of Liberty (co-writer, 1985)
- Huey Long (writer, 1985)
- For the American Experience Series, WGBH-TV
- Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided (with David Grubin, 2001)
- TR (writer with David Grubin, 1996. Emmy Award)
- The Last Boss (writer, with Barak Goodman, 1996)
- The Kennedys (principal writer, 1992; Emmy Award)
- Reminiscing in Tempo, (principal writer, 1991)
- Lindbergh (writer, 1990)
- Nixon (principal writer, 1990; Writers Guild Award)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Interview with Geoffrey Ward". Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
- ^ Hevesi, Dennis (18 June 2007). "F. C. Ward, Who Helped Devise 'Genius Award,' Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
- ^ "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has been honored with over 265 awards including the following". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
- ^ "Tv and radio nominees". Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
- ^ Staff writer (27 November 2006). "Johnson biog named book of year". BBC News. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
- ^ Andrew Baker (28 November 2006). "Johnson's tale floors five rivals". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
- ^ Book Awards[permanent dead link]
- ^ Organization of American Historians Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address Booklet 2006, page 4. Organization of American Historians Archived 2012-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "64th Primetime Emmy® Awards". Archived from the original on 2012-01-16.
- ^ Fateh Singh Rathore, the 'Tiger Guru,' Dies at 73 - NYTimes.com
- ^ Tiger-Wallahs: Encounters with the Men Who Tried to Save the Greatest of the Cats (with Diane Raines Ward), HarperCollins, 1993
- ^ Geoffrey C. Ward (May 25, 2012). "State of Paradox". New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life (With Wynton Marsalis) Random House, 2008
- ^ New York Times, January 12, 2001, pg. B2
- ^ Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly and the Politics of Thirst, Riverhead Books, 2003 and 2012
- ^ "Building Bridges India". Rajasthan, India: Prakratik Society.
- ^ 'The Roosevelts', Documentary Series on PBS - The New York Times
- ^ Revisiting the Roosevelts: PW Talks With Geoffrey C. Ward
- ^ "Ken Burns's 'The Roosevelts': The Truth Outside the Frame | Doc Soup | POV Blog | PBS". PBS. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
- ^ Winner, National Book Critics Circle and Los Angeles Times Awards for Best Biography, the Francis Parkman Award of the Society of American Historians, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, 1990
- ^ Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, 2005; William Hill Sports Book of the Year, 2006
External links
- PBS bio Archived 2013-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Geoffrey C. Ward at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN