Howard M. Sachar
Howard M. Sachar was an influential American historian and scholar, particularly known for his extensive work on Jewish history. Born on February 10, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, he was the son of Abram Leon Sachar, a prominent scholar who played a significant role in establishing Brandeis University. After earning his degrees from Swarthmore College and Harvard University, Sachar embarked on a distinguished academic career, which included teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts, UCLA, and George Washington University, where he became a full professor.
Sachar's scholarly contributions are noteworthy, with his seminal work, "The Course of Modern Jewish History," considered a classic in the field. He wrote extensively on the Jewish experience, producing numerous essays and books, including "A History of Jews in the Modern World." His writings were inspired by his experiences in Israel and his family background. Over his career, Sachar garnered multiple awards, including the National Jewish Book Award and an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He passed away on April 18, 2018, leaving behind a rich legacy in Jewish historical scholarship.
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Subject Terms
Howard M. Sachar
- Born: February 10, 1928
- Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
- Died: April 18, 2018
- Place of death: Kensington, Maryland
Biography
Howard Morley Sachar was born on February 10, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, to scholar Abram Leon Sachar and Thelma Horwitz Sachar. Sachar and his mother accompanied his father when he studied at Harvard University and completed a doctorate at Cambridge University. While his father taught at the University of Illinois and helped develop the Hillel Foundation, which originated at that school, Sachar grew up in Champaign, Illinois. His father’s historical scholarship influenced him.
Sachar earned a bachelor of arts degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Swarthmore College in 1947. His father established Brandeis University at Waltham, Massachusetts, the next year, serving as its president. Sachar enrolled in graduate school to study political science and history at Harvard University, where he completed an MA in 1950 and a PhD in 1953.
In 1953, Sachar accepted an instructor position at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The next year, he became the Hillel Foundation’s director at the University of California at Los Angeles, working in that capacity until 1957. Sachar oversaw the Hillel Foundation at Stanford University, beginning in 1959. By 1961, he agreed to establish and become director of the Jacob Hiatt Institute, affiliated with Brandeis University, in Jerusalem, Israel, remaining there through 1964.
On July 23, 1964, Sachar married Eliana Steimatzky. They had two daughters and one son. Sachar became an associate professor in the history department at George Washington University in Washington, DC, in 1964. Two years later, he was promoted to full professor of modern history and international affairs, with the title of Charles E. Smith Professor of History. He took leaves to teach as a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University, Tel Aviv University, and Hebrew University in addition to speaking at more than one hundred US, African, and European universities. He read several of his father’s book manuscripts, offering scholarly insights prior to publication.
Sachar retired in 2004 as a professor emeritus. He retained positions on scholarly journals’ and publishers’ editorial boards. The United States Foreign Service Institute secured his consulting services. Sachar settled in Kensington, Maryland.
While he lived in California, Sachar began writing his first history of Judaism. His experiences in Israel inspired several books. He expanded his doctoral studies to examine Middle East history during both World Wars. Sachar wrote about Jews in various countries. He wrote essays for such periodicals as the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Commentary. He also penned one novel, The Man on the Camel (1980), and served as the editor in chief for the ambitious, thirty-nine volume work The Rise of Israel (1987), which involved the reproduction of almost two thousand documents.
In the twenty-first century, as he continued to write, he published such books as Dreamland: Europeans and Jews in the Aftermath of the Great War (2002) and A History of Jews in the Modern World (2005), which spanned more than eight hundred pages. His final published work was The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942 (2015).
Many historians regard Sachar’s The Course of Modern Jewish History a classic in that field. Sachar won the National Jewish Book Award in 1976 and 1981. He was a Charles Brown Fellow starting in 1957 and received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in 1970. The Hebrew Union College of the Jewish Institute of Religion awarded Sachar an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 1996. Sachar’s books appeared in six languages.
Sachar died at his home in Kensington, Maryland, on April 18, 2018; he was ninety years old.
Bibliography
Cashman, Greer Fay. "Eminent Historian Howard Sachar Passes Away at Home at Age 90." The Jerusalem Post, 23 Apr. 2018, www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Eminent-historian-Howard-Sachar-passes-away-at-home-at-age-90-552524. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
Review of Dreamland: Europeans and Jews in the Aftermath of the Great War, by Howard M. Sachar. Kirkus, 24 June 2010, www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/howard-m-sachar/dreamland-5/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
Sachar, Michele. "Remembering My Father, Howard M. Sachar." Forward, 20 Apr. 2018, forward.com/scribe/399380/remembering-my-father-howard-m-sachar/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
Silverman, Ellie. "Howard M. Sachar, GWU Scholar and ‘Trailblazer’ of Jewish History, Dies at 90." The Washington Post, 22 May 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/howard-m-sachar-gwu-scholar-and-trailblazer-of-jewish-history-dies-at-90/2018/05/18/db9f8c76-591b-11e8-b656-a5f8c2a9295d‗story.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
Zipperstein, Steven J. "A History of Jews in the Modern World: The Best of Times?" Review of A History of Jews in the Modern World, by Howard M. Sachar. The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/a-history-of-the-jews-in-the-modern-world-the-best-of-times.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.