David Hackett Fischer

David Hackett Fischer (born December 2, 1935, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.) is an American educator and historian whose books on American and comparative history combine academic rigour with popular accessibility. His works focus not only on great individuals but also on the societies and people behind the wider movements that inform those individuals’ accomplishments.

Fischer grew up in Baltimore. His father, as Baltimore’s superintendent of schools in the 1950s, oversaw that school district’s integration, and he later became dean and president of Teachers College, Columbia University. Fischer himself received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University (1957) and a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University (1962). Upon graduation Fischer had offers for tenure-track positions from a number of prestigious universities but chose the relatively newly established (1948) Brandeis University. Aside from occasional visiting professorships at other institutions, he remained at Brandeis for the duration of his academic career.

Fischer’s first book, The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy (1965), examined the middle and later years of the party and bore features that would continue to appear in his work: a strongly argued point of view and a revisionist approach when warranted, with special attention given to the zeitgeist and the concerns of the populace. Historians’ Fallacies (1970) took a critical look at historiography. Already a solidly respected scholar among historians, Fischer broke through to a wider readership with Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989), on the assimilation of British regional cultures in colonial America. His groundbreaking Paul Revere’s Ride (1994) was a close biographical study of Revere and that famous event. The work debunked myths and resituated Revere—he of the legendary cry “The British are coming!”—as a colonist who, as such, would have considered himself British as well. Washington’s Crossing (2004) was a study of the American Revolution with special focus on George Washington’s 1776 crossing of the Delaware River to attack British troops at Trenton, New Jersey. It became a popular best seller and won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for history. Fischer also wrote a well-regarded work on French explorer Samuel de Champlain (Champlain’s Dream [2008]).

Fischer was also noted for his continued dedication to teaching. In 1990 he was awarded the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching and was named Massachusetts Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995. In 2015 Fischer won the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.