Rick Atkinson

Rick Atkinson
at 2015 National Book Festival
Born
Lawrence Rush Atkinson IV

(1952-11-15) November 15, 1952 (age 72)
Munich, then West Germany
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • editor
  • historian
  • author
AgentRaphael Sagalyn
Spouse
Jane Ann Chestnut
​
(m. 1979)​
ChildrenRush, Sarah
Parents
  • Larry Atkinson
  • Margaret Jean Atkinson
Awards
WebsiteThe Revolution Trilogy The Liberation Trilogy,
Notes

Lawrence Rush "Rick" Atkinson IV (born November 15, 1952) is an American author, most recently of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777, the first volume in the Revolution Trilogy. He has won Pulitzer Prizes in history and journalism.[2]

After working as a newspaper reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, Atkinson turned to writing military history. His seven books include narrative accounts of five different American wars.

His Liberation Trilogy, a history of the American role in the liberation of Europe in World War II, concluded with the publication of The Guns at Last Light in May 2013. In 2010, he received the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.[3] In 2019, Atkinson was named a Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Fellow by the Georgia Historical Society, an honor that recognizes national leaders in the field of history as both writers and educators whose research has enhanced or changed the way the public understands the past.[4]

  1. ^ "Rick Atkinson". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2013 – via Fairfax County Public Library. Gale Document Number: GALE|H1000003606. Biography in Context. (subscription required)
  2. ^ SupaduDev. "Rick Atkinson | Authors". Macmillan. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  3. ^ "Rick Atkinson | Pritzker Military Museum & Library | Chicago". www.pritzkermilitary.org. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "Georgia Historical Society Inducts Pulitzer Prize-winning Author and Historian Rick Atkinson as 2019 Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellow". Georgia Historical Society. November 19, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2022.