Howard Morley Sachar (February 10, 1928 – April 18, 2018) was an American historian. He was Professor Emeritus of History and International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and the author of 16 books,[1] as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals, on the subjects of Middle Eastern and Modern European history. His writings, which have been published in six languages,[2] are widely regarded as solid reference works.[3][4][5][6]
He married Eliana Steimatzky and had three children: Sharon, Michele and Daniel.
Career
Sachar was a full-time faculty member of the Department of History and the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University for 40 years.[1] He was also a visiting professor at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, and a guest lecturer at nearly 150 other universities in North America, Europe, South Africa and Egypt.[2] In 1996 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He also received the National Jewish Book Award on two separate occasions.[2] In 1977, for A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time and in 1982 for Egypt and Israel.[10]
In 1961 Sachar founded Brandeis University's Jacob Hiatt Institute in Jerusalem,[2] one of the first study-abroad programs in Israel,[1] and served as its director until 1964.[2] Through his connections with the United States Foreign Service, where he worked as a consultant and lecturer on Middle Eastern Affairs,[2] he was able to obtain funding for the Jacob Hiatt Institute from the U.S. State Department in 1965.[1]
He was a member of the American Historical Association as well as one dozen editorial boards and commissions. In addition to his books, he was editor-in-chief of the 39-volume The Rise of Israel: A documentary history.[2]
Diaspora: An inquiry into the contemporary Jewish world (1985)[21]
A History of Israel, Volume II: From the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War (1987)[22]
The Rise of Israel: A documentary record from the nineteenth century to 1948 : a facsimile series reproducing over 1,900 documents in 39 volumes, Volume 1 (1987)[23]