John Willard Shy (March 23, 1931 – April 8, 2022)[1][2][3] was a military historian and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan.[4][5] Shy was part of a group of military historians who examined the interplay of the military, politics, and society in the colonial and revolutionary periods of American history.[6]
John Shy | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 23, 1931 Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 8, 2022 (aged 91) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | Military history |
| Notable work | Toward Lexington (1965) |
Education
editBorn in Ohio,[1][2] Shy attended the United States Military Academy, graduating with a B.S. degree in the class of 1952.[4] He received his M.A. degree in history from the University of Vermont in 1957.[4] Shy graduated with his Ph.D. degree in history from Princeton University in 1961.[4] His doctoral thesis was entitled The British army in North America, 1760-1775.[7]
Career
editShy was commissioned as a United States Army officer in 1952 and served on active duty until 1955. He transitioned to the Army Reserve and ultimately attained the rank of captain.[1]
Shy became an associate professor at Princeton in 1959, an associate professor at Michigan in 1968 and a full professor there in 1971. He was a visiting professor at the United States Army War College from 1974 to 1975.[2]
Shy specialized in the American Colonial and Revolutionary periods.[4]
The University of Michigan presented him with the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award in 1994.[8]
Shy received the Morison Prize from the Society for Military History in 2002.[9]
Shy gave the 2008 George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History.[10]
Shy lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan after his retirement and died in 2022.[3]
Selected works
edit- Paret, Peter, and John W. Shy. Guerrillas in the 1960s. New York: Published for the Center of International Studies, Princeton University, by Praeger, 1962. OCLC 275746
- Shy, John W. Toward Lexington; The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
- Shy, John W. A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. ISBN 0195020138
- Gilbert, Benjamin, and John W. Shy. Winding Down: The Revolutionary War Letters of Lieutenant Benjamin Gilbert of Massachusetts, 1780–1783: From His Original Manuscript Letterbook in the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan. [Ann Arbor]: University of Michigan Press, 1989. ISBN 0472101129
References
edit- ^ a b c "Class of 1952—Register of Graduates". Register of Graduates and Former Cadets 1802–1971 of the United States Military Academy. The West Point Alumni Foundation Inc. 1971. p. 627. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ a b c Register of Graduates and Former Cadets, United States Military Academy. West Point, New York: Association of Graduates U.S.M.A. 1989. p. 556. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ a b "John W. Shy". Ann Arbor, Michigan: Muehlig Funeral Chapel. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ a b c d e "Memoir - Faculty History Project". www.lib.umich.edu.
- ^ http://www.miwsr.com/2008/downloads/20081202.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Spector, Robert (1991). "Military History and the Academic World". Army History. 19 (19): 7. JSTOR 26302864.
- ^ Shy, John Willard (1961). The British army in North America, 1760-1775 (Thesis). Princeton University. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ "FACULTY AWARDS John Shy, Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award". ur.umich.edu.
- ^ "Morison Prize". The Society for Military History.
- ^ "Vol. 72 No. 4". The Society for Military History.