Robert N. Burr

Robert N. Burr (October 15, 1916 – December 8, 2014) was an American historian. He was a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1948 to 1987, where he established the Latin American Studies program and served as its chair department from 1973 to 1977. He was the author of four widely reviewed books about Latin America and the recipient of scholarly awards.

Early life Robert N. Burr was born on October 15, 1916, in Rochester, New York. His father was John Edwin Burr and his mother, Ethel Bills.

Burr graduated from the University of Rochester. Harry Bernstein in The Hispanic American Historical Review, Charles C. Griffin in the Pacific Historical Review, and Edwin Lieuwen in The Americas. In 1961, he edited Latin America's Nationalistic Revolutions.

A year later, in 1962, he published his third book, The Stillborn Panama Congress: Power Politics and Chilean-Colombian Relations During the War of the Pacific. It was reviewed by D. A. G. Waddell in The English Historical Review, J. Leon Helguera in The Hispanic American Historical Review, Herbert S. Klein in the Pacific Historical Review, and Terence Tarr in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly.

His fourth book, By Reason or Force: Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America, 1830-1905, was reviewed by John C. Dreier in The Americas, Harold Blakemore in History, Thomas F. McGann in the Pacific Historical Review, W. Donald Beatty in The Hispanic American Historical Review, John J. Johnson in The American Historical Review, Frederic B. Pike in The Americas, and Harry Bernstein in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Moreover, Burr was awarded the Bolton Prize from the Conference on Latin American History for it in 1966.

His fifth book, Our Troubled Hemisphere: Perspectives on United States. Latin American Relations, was reviewed by Donald L. Herman in The Western Political Quarterly, A. Curtis Wilgus in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, C. Neale Ronning in the Midwest Journal of Political Science, and John D. Lees in Chatham House's International Affairs.

Personal life, death and legacy Burr was married twice. He married his first wife, Virginia Ward, in 1940.

Works