Philip Beidler

Philip Douglas Beidler (October 29, 1944 – April 20, 2022 ) was an American academic and author. He was a professor of American literature at the University of Alabama, and the author and editor of books on Alabama literature, the Vietnam War, and other topics. For his work on Vietnam writers, he has been called "one of the founding fathers of Vietnam War studies".

Beidler, who was of German and Quaker descent, was born on October 29, 1944, in Adams, Pennsylvania. He received master's and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Virginiathe latter in 1974.

He became a professor at the University of Alabama in the mid-1970s, served as director of graduate studies and as assistant dean, and was awarded the 1999 Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award.

Beidler suffered from Parkinson's during the last years of his life. He died on April 20, 2022.

Cultural history . . .

Alabama literature . . .