Stanley Weintraub

Stanley Weintraub (April 17, 1929 – July 28, 2019) was an American historian and biographer and an expert on George Bernard Shaw.

Except for visiting appointments, he remained at Pennsylvania State University ("Penn State") for all of his career, finally attaining the rank of Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, with emeritus status on retirement in 2000. From 1970 to 1990 he was also Director of Penn State's Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies.

Early life Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub. He attended South Philadelphia High School, and then he attended West Chester State Teachers College (West Chester University of Pennsylvania) where he received his B.S. in education in 1949. He continued his education at Temple University where he received his master's degree in English "in absentia," as he was called to duty in the Korean War.

He received a commission in the Army as a second lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea, receiving a Bronze Star.

After the war, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation "Bernard Shaw, Novelist" was accepted on May 6, 1956.

He was a prolific author, who received a festschrift in 1998.

Personal life He married Rodelle Horwitz in 1954; she also became a Shaw specialist. They had three children, and lived in Newark, Delaware. He died on July 28, 2019, at the age of 90.

Publications

Private Shaw and Public Shaw: A Dual Portrait of Arabia and G. B. S.. London: Braziller, 1963. The Yellow Book, Quintessence of the Nineties. Ed. with an introd. by Stanley Weintraub. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964. The Art of William Golding (with Bernard S. Oldsey). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965. Reggie: a Portrait of Reginald Turner. New York: Braziller, 1965. The Savoy: Nineties Experiment. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966. Beardsley: A Biography. London: Braziller, 1967. Received National Book Award nomination in 1967 The Unexpected Shaw: Biographical Approaches to George Bernard Shaw and His Work. New York: Ungar, 1982. British Dramatists since World War II. Dictionary of Literary Biography: Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. A Stillness Heard Round the World: the End of the Great War, November 1918. London : Allen & Unwin, 1986. American ed. published by E. P. Dutton. Victoria: An Intimate Biography. New York: Dutton, 1987; 700 pages. Bernard Shaw on the London Art Scene, 1885–1950. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989. Long Day's Journey Into War: December 7, 1941. New York: Dutton, 1991. Bernard Shaw: A Guide to Research. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992. Disraeli: A Biography. New York: Dutton, 1993. Arms and the Man and John Bull's Other Island by George Bernard Shaw, with an Introduction by Stanley and Rodelle Weintraub. New York: Bantam, 1993. The Last Great Victory : the End of World War II, July–August 1945. New York : Truman Talley Books, 1995. Shaw's People: Victoria to Churchill. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert. New York: Free Press, 1997. ; MacArthur's War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero. New York: Free Press, 2000. Dear Young Friend: the Letters of American Presidents to Children. Ed. with Rodelle Weintraub. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Press, 2000. Edward the Caresser: the Playboy Prince who Became Edward VII. New York: Free Press, 2001. Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914. New York: Free Press, 2001. Charlotte and Lionel: a Rothschild Love Story. New York: Free Press, 2003. General Washington's Christmas Farewell: a Mount Vernon Homecoming, 1783. New York: Free Press, 2003. ; Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783. New York: Free Press, 2005. (also, subtitled Rebellion in America, 1775–1783. London: Simon and Schuster, 2005) Eleven Days in December. Christmas at the Bulge, 1944. New York: Free Press, 2006. 15 Stars: Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall: Three Generals Who Saved the American Century. New York: Free Press, 2007. General Sherman's Christmas. Savannah, 1864. New York: Harper/Smithsonian, 2009. Farewell, Victoria! English Literature 1880–1900. Greensboro, NC: ELT PRESS / University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2011. Who's Afraid of Bernard Shaw? Some Personalities in Shaw's Plays. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011. Victorian Yankees at Queen Victoria's Court: American Encounters with Victoria and Albert. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2011. Pearl Harbor Christmas: A World at War, December 1941. New York: DaCapo Press, 2011. Final Victory: FDR's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign. New York: Da Capo Press, 2012. Young Mr. Roosevelt: FDR's Introduction to War, Politics, and Life. New York: Da Capo Press, 2013.

Awards Weintraub was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1968–1969. On 11 November 1982, the university inaugurated the "Rodelle and Stanley Weintraub Center for the Study of the Arts and Humanities," containing a collection of their books, papers and memorabilia. In 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by West Chester University of Pennsylvania.