Gerhard L. Weinberg, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has won a lifetime achievement award in military writing.
The Pritzker Military Library Literature Award recognizes a living author for a body of work that has profoundly enriched the public’s understanding of American military history. The award is presented by the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation. The winner receives a $100,000 honorarium.
“Dr. Weinberg is truly a gifted writer of military history who has devoted his skills and talent to produce ‘A World at Arms,’ perhaps the finest study of World War II ever attempted by a single scholar,” said James N. Pritzker, founder of the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago and a retired Army colonel.
Weinberg, who has been a member of the UNC history faculty since 1974, received his master’s and doctorate degrees in history from the University of Chicago.
Weinberg was born in Hanover, Germany on Jan. 1, 1928. He was later expelled for being Jewish in 1938 and moved to England. In 1940, he and his family moved to the United States. After graduating from Albany High School, he enrolled in the New York State College for Teachers. He later served the U.S. Army in occupied Japan, teaching history and government as well as literacy classes to American soldiers. He is the author of many books on World War II.
The 2009 award screening committee described Weinberg’s work as “achieving the all-too-rare quality of being both encyclopedic and highly readable … monumental, comprehensive, magisterial, indispensable.”
Weinberg will receive the award on Oct. 24 at the library’s annual gala at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton Hotel.
