Peter Cozzens

{{distinguish|Peter Cozens}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = | name = Peter Cozzens | honorific_suffix = | image = Peter Cozzens 5160274.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = at the 2026 Gaithersburg Book Festival | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | other_name = | nickname = | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | burial_label = | burial_place = | burial_coordinates =  | allegiance = American | branch = [[United States Army]], <br /> State Department | service_years = | service_years_label = | rank = | rank_label = | service_number =  | unit = | commands = | battles_label = | battles = | awards = The William R. Rivkin Award<br />[[New-York Historical Society book prizes#Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History|Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History]] | memorials = | spouse =  | relations = | other_work = Historian | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website =  | module = }} '''Peter Cozzens''' (born 1957) is an American historian and retired U.S. [[Foreign Service Officer]]. He has written and/or edited over seventeen books on the [[American Civil War]] and the [[American Indian Wars]].<ref name="authorsguild.net">{{cite web|url=https://www.authorsguild.net/services/members/1400|title=Profile — Peter Edward Cozzens - The Authors Guild}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/center_of_the_west_hosts_author_peter_cozzens_sharing_his_latest_book_on_the_indian_wars/prweb13670586.htm|title=Center of the West Hosts Author Peter Cozzens Sharing His Latest Book on the Indian Wars}}</ref>

== Early life == Peter Cozzens grew up in [[Wheaton, Illinois]].{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

==Career ==

=== ''The Earth Is Weeping'' === ''The Earth Is Weeping'' chronicles the Indian Wars for the American West in their totality. Cozzens begins his narrative with the 1866 resistance movement led by Red Cloud.

Smithsonian.com named it one of the top ten history books of 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/top-history-books-2016-180961616/| title = Top History Books of 2016|work=Smithsonian|first=Brian|last=Wolly|date=December 30, 2016|access-date=December 17, 2021}}</ref> Amazon highlighted it as one of the best books of 2016 in the history category.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=s9_acss_bw_cg_BOTM_2c1_w?node=6458662011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER|title=Amazon.com: History: Editors' Picks: Books|publisher=Amazon.com}}</ref>

It is the recipient of the 2016 [[Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History]] awarded for the best book published on the subject in the English language in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-bc-us--books-military-prize-20170302-story.html |title=Retired foreign service officer wins $50,000 literary prize - Chicago Tribune |website=www.chicagotribune.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304040714/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-bc-us--books-military-prize-20170302-story.html |archive-date=2017-03-04}}</ref>

== Awards ==

He received the [[Superior Honor Award]] from the [[United States Department of State|US State Department]] in 1997. In 2002, he received The William R. Rivkin Award from the [[American Foreign Service Association]], awarded to one Foreign Service Officer annually for "extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage and constructive dissent".<ref name="authorsguild.net"/> He also received an Alumni Achievement Award from his alma mater [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://departments.knox.edu/newsarchive/news_events/releases_1998-99/Graduation_1999.html |title=Knox College, Graduation 1999|website=Knox College}}</ref> Cozzens was named the 2016 recipient of the [[Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History]] for his book, ''The Earth is Weeping''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/peter-cozzens-wins-gilder-lehrman-military-history-prize|title=Peter Cozzens Wins Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize - Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History|website=gilderlehrman.org|date=April 11, 2017|access-date=December 17, 2021}}</ref>

Cozzens serves on the Advisory Council of the [[Lincoln Prize]].<ref name="Seminary Co-op">{{cite web|title=Peter Cozzens "The Earth is Weeping" at the Harold Washington Library|url=https://www.semcoop.com/event/peter-cozzens-earth-weeping-harold-washington-library|website=The Seminary Co-op|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life == He lives with his wife Antonia Feldman in [[Kensington, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.petercozzens.net/|title=Home - peter cozzens|first=Peter|last=Cozzens}}</ref>

He has detailed his history with [[bipolar disorder]] and mental illness, including the potential the condition had to enable his writing career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/january-february-2009/dark-days-past-2/|title=Dark Days Past|first=Lisa|last=Braun-Kenigsberg|date=3 January 2009|publisher=Bethesda Magazine}}</ref>

== Selected works == * {{cite book|title=Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|date=2025|isbn =978-0593537855|oclc=1478325514}} * {{cite book|title=A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|date=2023|isbn =978-0525659457|oclc=1330202779}} * {{cite book|title=Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|date=2020|isbn =978-1524733254|oclc=1264231981}} * {{Cite book|title= The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West|publisher = Alfred A. Knopf|date=2016|isbn =9780307958044|oclc= 930364284}} * {{Cite book|title= [[Shenandoah 1862|Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign]]|publisher = University of North Carolina Press|date=2008|isbn =9780807832004|oclc= 213358059}} * {{Cite book|title= General John Pope: a Life for the Nation|publisher =University of Illinois Press |date=2000|isbn = 0252023633|oclc= 42289679}} * {{Cite book|title= The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth|publisher= University of North Carolina Press|date= 1997|isbn= 0807823201|oclc= 34984056|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/darkestdaysofwar00cozz}} * {{Cite book|title= The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga|publisher= University of Illinois Press|date= 1994|isbn= 0252019229|oclc= 29877161|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252019227}} * {{Cite book|title= This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga|publisher=University of Illinois Press|date=1992|isbn= 0252065948|oclc= 931918657}} * {{Cite book|title= No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River|publisher =University of Illinois Press |date=1990|isbn = 0252016521|oclc= 19266989}}

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.petercozzens.net/}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090408070334/http://www.petercozzens.com/ PeterCozzens]}} * {{LinkedIn page|in/peter-cozzens-16895a15}} * [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/peter-cozzens Wilson Center]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cozzens, Peter}} [[Category:20th-century American historians]] [[Category:21st-century American historians]] [[Category:American military historians]] [[Category:Historians of the American Civil War]] [[Category:Historians of the American West]] [[Category:Historians of Native Americans]] [[Category:Historians from Illinois]] [[Category:Knox College (Illinois) alumni]] [[Category:People from Wheaton, Illinois]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]] [[Category:People with bipolar disorder]] [[Category:1957 births]] [[Category:Living people]]