With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Barbara Tuchman
Journalism/Non-Fiction
1912 – 1989
Barbara Tuchman wrote numerous history books on popular themes of the time. “The Guns of August” (1962) and “Stilwell and the American Experience in China” (1971) both won her Pulitzer Prizes. She started out as a journalist, and later transitioned to writing non-fiction books, many of which were developed and completed on her Greenwich estate in Connecticut, called Wyndygoul.
- Biography/Description of Work
Tuchman was born into status: her father, Maurice Wertheim was an investment banker, environmentalist, and philanthropist; and her mother was a Morgenthau. Tuchman received her bachelor’s degree in 1933 from Radcliffe College. After graduating, she worked in Japan to help create an economic handbook of the Pacific area, and wrote for two journals, Far Eastern Survey and Pacific Affairs. In 1936, Tuchman was back in the United States working for ‘The Nation,’ a publication her father owned at the time. She went to Valencia in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and traveled around Europe afterwards. In 1940, she married Dr. Lester Reginald Tuchman. Her husband was sent overseas to a military hospital after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after World War II ended, the Tuchmans summered on their estate in Cos Cob, Greenwich. During this time, Tuchman worked on her first book, “Bible and Sword,” which was released in 1956. In 1962, she used the proceeds from the Pulitzer Prize for “The Guns of August” to build a writing studio on her Cos Cob property. She wrote many books here including her second Pulitzer Prize winner, “Stilwell and the American Experience in China”. In their later years, the Tuchmans moved permanently to their Greenwich estate and Barbara continued to write until her death in 1989.
- Sources view
- http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-tuchman-21018951, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/nyregion/an-estate-and-a-family-are-split.html, http://www.greenwichfreepress.com/news/government/pomerance-mansion-a-historically-sensitive-demolition-alternative-25911/, Young, Anne H.; Wyndygoul State Register nomination; Greenwich Preservation Trust; 2014.
- Associated Resource(s)