Edward Countryman

Edward Countryman (July 31, 1944 – March 24, 2025) was an American historian known for his study of the American Revolution. He taught at Yale University, University of Canterbury, and Southern Methodist University.

He taught at Yale University, University of Canterbury, University of Warwick, University of Cambridge. Latterly, he was a Distinguished University Professor at Southern Methodist University from 1991 to 2022. According to the New York Times, his "wide-ranging studies of the various groups — politicians, laborers, Native Americans and more — at work during the American Revolution helped usher in a more complex understanding of the nation’s founding." He also promoted the idea that the American Revolution was a social revolution, with "elites forced to give ground to the working and farming classes."

Countryman was married to Evonne van Heussen, after a prior marriage ended in divorce. He had three children. He died in Dallas, Texas on March 24, 2025, at the age of 80.

Awards 1983–1991 Royal Historical Society L.H.D. Honoris Causa Manhattan College 1982 Bancroft Prize for A People in Revolution 1966–1971 Danforth Graduate Fellow 1966–1967 Woodrow Wilson Fellow

Works Reprinted as a paperback in 1989; see Revised edition Macmillan, 2003 . Revised edition Macmillan, 1997. Co-author with Evonne von Heussen-Countryman. The Empire State, co-author, Cornell University Press, 2001

Historians at Work, series editor