Donald Kagan (; May 1, 1932August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece. He formerly taught in the Department of History at Cornell University. Kagan was considered among the foremost American scholars of Greek history and is notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War.
Early life and education
Kagan was born in Kuršėnai, Lithuania, on May 1, 1932, to a Jewish family. His father, Shmuel, died before Kagan turned two years old, and his mother, Leah (Benjamin), subsequently emigrated to the United States with Kagan and his sister. He grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
Academic career
Donald Kagan's political views underwent a significant shift around 1969, moving from liberalism towards neoconservatism. This change occurred following student protests at Cornell University, which led to the establishment of a Black Studies program following the student occupation of Willard Straight Hall. Kagan felt the university administration's response was inadequate, deeply impacting his political outlook. He became one of the original signatories of the 1997 Statement of Principles by the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century, co-founded by his son Robert. In the lead-up to the 2000 presidential elections, Kagan and his other son, Frederick, published While America Sleeps, advocating for increased defense spending. Kagan believes honor – better understood as "prestige" – was crucial in beginning World War I, for example. Kagan titled his lecture "In Defense of History"; he argued that history is of primary importance in the study of the humanities. In his The New Yorker review, George Steiner said of Kagan's four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War: "The temptation to acclaim Kagan's four volumes as the foremost work of history produced in North America in this century is vivid." His "The Origins of War" was one of Yale's most popular courses for twenty-five years, and was the basis of a book he published in 1995. Over an even longer timespan he taught "Introduction to Ancient Greek History", and upper level History and Classical Civilization seminars focusing on topics from Thucydides to the Lacedaimonian hegemony.
Personal life and family
Kagan married Myrna Dabrusky in 1954. They met while studying at Thomas Jefferson High School together,
Positions held
<!-- don't know years: Master of Timothy Dwight College at Yale. He was in 1980, I know. He even was on the intramural football team--- the "Peloponnesian pulverizer". -->
- 1987–1988 Acting Director of Athletics, Yale University
- 1989–1992 Dean, Yale College