{{short description|American historian (1928–2018)}} {{infobox person |name=Howard Sachar |birth_name=Howard Morley Sachar |birth_date={{birth date|1928|2|10}} |birth_place=St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2018|4|18|1928|2|10}} |death_place=Kensington, Maryland, U.S. |education=Swarthmore College<br>Harvard University (MA, PhD) |occupation=Historian |spouse=Eliana Steimatzky |children=3 |father=Abram L. Sachar |relatives=Edward J. Sachar (brother)<br>David B. Sachar (brother) }} '''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,<ref name="hoot">{{cite web |url=http://thebrandeishoot.com/articles/6474 |title=All in the Family: Dr. Howard Sachar and the Jacob Hiatt Institute |last=Fuchs |first=Sam |date=11 September 2009 |access-date=31 January 2011 |publisher=Brandeis University}}</ref> 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,<ref name="george" /> are widely regarded as solid reference works.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/readinglists/what-to-read-on-israeli-politics |title=What To Read On Israeli Politics |date=11 December 2009 |last=Benn |first=Aluf |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/1774/ |title=Narrative History in the Grand Tradition |last=Kaufmann |first=David |date=16 December 2005 |access-date=31 January 2011 |work=The Jewish Daily Forward}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04ZIPPERS.html |last=Zipperstein |first=Steven J. |title='A History of the Jews in the Modern World': The Best of Times? |work=The New York Times |date=4 September 2005 |access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalpol00brow |url-access=registration |quote=howard sachar. |title=International Politics and the Middle East: Old rules, dangerous game |page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalpol00brow/page/290 290] |last= Brown|first=L. Carl |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=1-85043-000-4 |year=1984}}</ref>

==Early, personal life and education== Howard Morley Sachar was born to historian and academic administrator Abram L. Sachar and his wife, Thelma Horwitz,<ref name="ny">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/25/obituaries/dr-abram-l-sachar-historian-and-1st-brandeis-u-president-94.html |title=Dr. Abram L. Sachar, Historian And 1st Brandeis U. President, 94 |last=Lyons |first=Richard D. |date=25 July 1993 |access-date=31 January 2011 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> during his father's tenure as a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.<ref name="hoot" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-28-ls-13625-story.html |title=BOOK REVIEW / HISTORY: A Poignant Celebration of a Rich Vein of Jewish History: FAREWELL ESPANA: The World of the Sephardim Remembered by Howard M. Sachar, Knopf, $30, 439 pages |last=Kirsch |first=Jonathan |date=28 December 1994 |work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref> He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Champaign, Illinois. He was the eldest of three brothers; his brother Edward J. Sachar became a pioneering biological psychiatrist and David B. Sachar became a gastroenterologist.

Sachar completed his undergraduate education at Swarthmore College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at Harvard University.<ref name="george">{{cite web |url=https://elliott.gwu.edu/howard-m-sachar |title=Emeritus Faculty: Howard M. Sachar |publisher=George Washington University |access-date=2 May 2018 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728200325/https://elliott.gwu.edu/howard-m-sachar |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Ellie">{{cite news |last1=Silverman |first1=Ellie |title=Howard M. Sachar, GWU scholar and 'trailblazer' of Jewish history, dies at 90 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/howard-m-sachar-gwu-scholar-and-trailblazer-of-jewish-history-dies-at-90/2018/05/18/db9f8c76-591b-11e8-b656-a5f8c2a9295d_story.html |access-date=22 November 2021 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=May 22, 2018}}</ref>

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.<ref name="hoot" /> 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.<ref name="george" /> 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.<ref name="george" /> In 1977, for ''A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time'' and in 1982 for ''Egypt and Israel.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30759|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref>

In 1961 Sachar founded Brandeis University's Jacob Hiatt Institute in Jerusalem,<ref name="george" /> one of the first study-abroad programs in Israel,<ref name="hoot" /> and served as its director until 1964.<ref name="george" /> Through his connections with the United States Foreign Service, where he worked as a consultant and lecturer on Middle Eastern Affairs,<ref name="george" /> he was able to obtain funding for the Jacob Hiatt Institute from the U.S. State Department in 1965.<ref name="hoot" />

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''.<ref name="george" />

Howard Sachar died at his home in Kensington, Maryland, on April 18, 2018, aged 90.<ref>{{cite news|title=Eminent historian Howard Sachar passes away at home at age 90|url=https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Eminent-historian-Howard-Sachar-passes-away-at-home-at-age-90-552524|access-date=April 26, 2018|work=Jerusalem Post|date=April 23, 2018}}</ref>

==Political position== Sachar was a member of the advisory council of the pro-peace lobbying organization J Street and an advocate of the two-state solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jstreet.org/supporters/advisory_council |title=Advisory Council |access-date=31 January 2011 |publisher=J Street |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420194928/http://jstreet.org/supporters/advisory_council |archive-date=20 April 2008 }}</ref>

== Works == *''The Course of Modern Jewish History'' (1959; updated 1990)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/courseofmodernje00sach_0 |url-access=registration |quote=howard sachar. |title=The Course of Modern Jewish History|last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=[https://archive.org/details/courseofmodernje00sach_0/page/891 891] pages |year=1990 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=0-679-72746-9}}</ref> Lib. of Cong. Cat. No. 58-67-57 *''Aliyah: The peoples of Israel'' (1961)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2UBAAAAMAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=Aliyah: The peoples of Israel |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=475 |publisher=World Publishing Co. |year=1961}}</ref> Lib. of Cong. Cat. No. 61-12017 *''From the Ends of the Earth: The peoples of Israel'' (1964)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZNtAAAAMAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=From the Ends of the Earth: The peoples of Israel |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=World Publishing Co. |year=1964 |pages=510}}</ref> Lib. of Cong. Cat. No. 64-12064 *''The Emergence of the Middle East: 1914&ndash;1924'' (1969) <ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2JtAAAAMAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=The Emergence of the Middle East: 1914&ndash;1924 |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=Knopf |year=1969 |pages=518|isbn=9780713901580 }}</ref> Lib. of Cong. Cat. No. 76-79349 *''Europe Leaves the Middle East, 1936&ndash;1954'' (1972)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NxiCAAAAIAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=Europe Leaves the Middle East, 1936&ndash;1954 |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=687 |publisher=Knopf |year=1972 |isbn=0-394-46064-2}}</ref> *''A History of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time'' (1976; 3rd edition 2007)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OJftAAAAMAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=A History of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time|last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=Knopf |year=2007|pages=1270|isbn=978-0-375-71132-9}}</ref> *''The Man on the Camel: A novel'' (1980)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KII9AAAAIAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=The Man on the Camel: A novel |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=308 |publisher=Times Books |year=1980 |isbn=0-8129-0909-7}}</ref> *''Egypt and Israel'' (1981)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRCPAAAAIAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=Egypt and Israel |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=384 |publisher=R. Marek |year=1981 |isbn=0-399-90124-8}}</ref> *''Diaspora: An inquiry into the contemporary Jewish world'' (1985)<ref>{{cite book |title=Diaspora: An inquiry into the contemporary Jewish world |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1985 |isbn=0-06-015403-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/diaspora00038/page/539 539] |url=https://archive.org/details/diaspora00038/page/539 }}</ref> *''A History of Israel, Volume II: From the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War'' (1987)<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Israel, Volume II: From the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-19-504386-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofisrael00sach }}</ref> *''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)<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BoL5SgAACAAJ&q=The+Rise+Of+Israel:+A+Documentary+Record |title=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 |last1=Sachar |first1=Howard Morley |last2=Cohen |first2=Michael Joseph |last3=Friedman |first3=Isaiah|author4-link=Aaron Klieman |last4=Klieman |first4=Aaron S. |publisher=Garland Pub.|year=1987|isbn=978-0-8240-4926-3}}</ref> *''A History of the Jews in America'' (1992)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUV2AAAAMAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=A History of the Jews in America |last=Sachar|first=Howard Morley |pages=1051 |publisher=Knopf |year=1992 |isbn= 0-394-57353-6}}</ref> *''Farewell Espana: The world of the Sephardim remembered'' (1994; reprinted 1995)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBSXPQAACAAJ&q=howard+sachar |title=Farewell Espana: The world of the Sephardim remembered |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |pages=464 |isbn=0-679-73846-0}}</ref> *''Israel and Europe: An Appraisal in History'' (1998; reprinted 2000)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaaPT3V6odYC&q=howard+sachar&pg=PT2 |title=Israel and Europe: An appraisal in history |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2000 |pages=416 |isbn=0-679-77613-3 |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley}}</ref> *''Dreamland: Europeans and Jews in the aftermath of the Great War'' (2002; reprinted 2003)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7BlAasRSjcYC&q=howard+sachar |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |title=Dreamland: Europeans and Jews in the aftermath of the Great War |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2003 |pages=400 |isbn=0-375-70829-4}}</ref> *''A History of the Jews in the Modern World'' (2005; reprinted 2006)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vo0xXNNQkn4C&q=howard+sachar |title=A History of the Jews in the Modern World |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=848 |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2006 |isbn=1-4000-3097-8}}</ref> *''The Assassination of Europe, 1918-1942: A Political History'' (2004)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wQBBQAAQBAJ&q=assassination+of+europe |title=The Assassination of Europe, 1918-1942 |last=Sachar |first=Howard Morley |pages=480 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1442609181}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sachar, Howard}} Category:1928 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Jewish American historians Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Historians of Jews and Judaism Category:Historians of the Middle East Category:Columbian College of Arts and Sciences faculty Category:Elliott School of International Affairs faculty Category:Swarthmore College alumni Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:20th-century American historians Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:21st-century American historians Category:21st-century American male writers