Leland Baldwin

Leland DeWitt Baldwin (November 23, 1897 - March 6, 1981) was a professor, historian, and writer. He directed the Western Pennsylvania Historical Survey and served as a professor of American history at the University of Pittsburgh. He authored many works, including The Delectable Country (1939), The Stream of American History (1952), and The American Quest for the City of God (1981). His tombstone can be found in the Santa Barbara Cemetery.^[1]

Early life and education

Baldwin was born in

From 1917 to 1920, Baldwin worked in a variety of factories. He also worked in a hammer shop as a book keeper, where he solved a reoccurring issue of hammer shop helpers striking. From 1920-1922, he worked as a paper hanger.^[3]

Baldwin attended

After completing his doctorate, Baldwin became a research assistant and librarian for the Western Pennsylvania Historical Survey under the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. He also served as a director of the survey from 1935 to 1936. Baldwin simultaneously lectured at the University of Pittsburgh and served as the first editor at the University of Pittsburgh Press.^[3][4]

In 1940 he became the acting librarian of the University of Pittsburgh.^[5] While librarian, he attempted to streamline the library and procure greater funding. He left his position to enlist in the military.

In 1946, after leaving military service, Baldwin became an

In 1937, Baldwin released his first book, Pittsburgh: The Story of a City, as a part of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Survey. It described in-depth the history of Pittsburgh, with a focus on Pittsburgh's history prior to the American Civil War. The book covers the full history of Pittsburgh and its land, speaking of the many "growing pains" the city faced.^[9]

Baldwin wrote and published his second book, Whiskey Rebels: The Story of a Frontier Uprising, in 1939. The book tells the story of the

In 1941, Baldwin published The Keelboat Age on Western Waters. It was the last of ten books published with the Western Pennsylvania Historical Survey. It focuses on boating in the West prior to the steamboat.^[11]

Baldwin published The Story of the Americas in 1943. Designed for popular consumption, rather than for historians, the book used "unorthodox vocabulary" to describe many events "selected for interest rather than importance."^[12]

In 1944, Baldwin, inspired by his time in Europe throughout the

Baldwin's 1948 work Best Hope of Earth: A Grammar of Democracy traces the routes of democracy to Ancient Greece and Rome. Baldwin attempted to examine the role of democracy in the contemporary world, and concluded that "democracy is a positive political process for working toward liberty, equality, and fraternity... though it bears in itself the means of improvement, it can never lay claim to perfection without destroying its essential nature."^[3]

In 1952, Baldwin published The Stream of American History, an American history textbook. At its peak, the book was used in at least 92 universities and colleges. He published a second edition in 1957, a third edition in 1965, and a fourth in 1969.^[3]

In 1954, Baldwin published a book designed as a "more detailed treatment of twentieth century events", Recent American History. A year later, in 1955, Baldwin published The Meaning of America: Essays Towards an Understanding of the American Spirit. Designed as a companion to The Stream of American History, it examined the American economic and political systems, providing a strength/weakness analysis in connection with the history of the United States.^[3]

In 1971, Baldwin published Reframing the Constitution: An Imperative for Modern America, in which he argued for a complete re-writing of the United States Constitution. His suggestions included making Congress

In 1939, Baldwin published his sole novel, The Delectable Country. It was set in the trans-Appalachian West during the 1790s, and focused on many elements of Western Pennsylvanian History including the Whiskey Rebellion. It briefly reached several best-seller lists.^[14] James Branch Cabell described it as "as good as Gone with the Wind."^[15]

In the 1970s, he planned a 5-book novel series known as the Penburne Quintet, which would have featured The Delectable Country as its third entry. The other intended entries included The Fourteenth Fire, The Drums Draw Near, Greenbay or the Rivers, and A Gentleman of No Consequence. He only successfully published The Delectable Country.^[15]

Written works

• — (1937). Pittsburgh: The Story of a City, 1750-1865. Pittsburgh:
  ISBN 9780822952169
  .
• — (1939). The Delectable Country. New York: Lee Furman, Inc.
• — (1939). Whiskey Rebels: The Story of a Frontier Uprising. Pittsburgh:
  ISBN 9780822951513
  .
• — (1941). The Keelboat Age on Western Waters. Pittsburgh:
  ISBN 9780822953197
  .
• — (1943). The Story of the Americas: the Discovery, Settlement, and Development of the New World. New York:
  Simon and Schuster
  .
• — (1944). God's Englishman: The Evolution of the Anglo-Saxon Spirit. Boston:
  Little, Brown, and Company
  .
• — (1948). Best Hope of Earth: A Grammar of Democracy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
• — (1952). The Stream of American History. New York:
  Simon and Schuster
  .
• — (1954). Recent American History. New York: American Book Company.
• — (1955). The Meaning of America: Essays Towards an Understanding of the American Spirit. Pittsburgh:
  ISBN 9781258266233
  .
• — (1971). Reframing the Constitution: An Imperative for Modern America. Santa Barbara:
  ISBN 9780874360837
  .
• — (1973). The American Quest. Belmont:
  Wadsworth Publishing Company
  .
• — (1981). The American Quest for the City of God. Macon:
  ISBN 9780865540163
  .