Hendrik Willem van Loon

Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist.

Life and works

He born in Rotterdam, the son of Hendrik Willem van Loon and Elisabeth Johanna Hanken. He went to the United States in 1902 to study at Cornell University, receiving his degree in 1905. He was a correspondent during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University (1915-17) and in 1919 became an American citizen.

In 1906 he married Eliza Ingersoll Bowditch, daughter of a Harvard professor, by whom he had two sons, Henry Bowditch and Gerard Willem. He had two later marriages, to Eliza Helen Criswell in 1920 and playwright Frances Goodrich Ames in 1927, but after a divorce from Ames he returned to Criswell (it is debatable whether or not they re-married) who inherited his estate in 1944.

From the 1910s until his death, Van Loon wrote many books, illustrating them himself. Most widely known among these is "The Story of Mankind", a history of the world especially for children, which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. The book was later updated by Van Loon and has continued to be updated, first by his son and later by other historians.

However, he also wrote many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal and thought-provoking style which, particularly in "The Story of Mankind", included personal anecdotes.

Asked how to say his name, he told "The Literary Digest" "I still stick to the Dutch pronunciation of the double "o"—"Loon" like "loan" in 'Loan and Trust Co.' My sons will probably accept the American pronunciation. It really does not matter very much." (Charles Earle Funk, "What's the Name, Please?", Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)

Bibliography

A partial list of works by Hendrik Willem van Loon, with first publication dates and publishers.
*"The Fall of the Dutch Republic", 1913, Houghton Mifflin Co.
*"The Rise of the Dutch Kingdom", 1915, Doubleday Page & Co.
*"The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators", 1916, The Century Co.
*"A Short History of Discovery", 1917, David McKay
*"Ancient man; the beginning of civilizations", 1920, Boni and Liveright
*"The Story of Mankind", 1921, Boni and Liveright
*"The Story of the Bible", 1923, Boni and Liveright
*"The Story of Wilbur the Hat", 1925, Boni and Liveright
*"Tolerance", 1925, Boni and Liveright
*"The Liberation of Mankind: the story of man's struggle for the right to think", 1926, Boni and Liveright
*"America", 1927, Boni and Liveright
*"Adriaen Block", 1928, Block Hall
*"Multiplex man, or the Story of survival through invention", 1928
*"Life and Times of Peter Stuyvesant", 1928, Henry Holt
*"Man the Miracle Maker", 1928, Horace Liveright
*"R. v. R.: the Life and Times of Rembrant van Rijn", 1930, Horace Liveright
*"If the Dutch Had Kept Nieuw Amsterdam", in "If, Or History Rewritten", edited by J. C. Squire, 1931
*"Van Loon's Geography", 1932, Simon and Schuster
*"An Elephant Up a Tree", 1933, Simon and Schuster
*"An Indiscreet Itinerary", 1933, Harcourt, Brace
*"The story of inventions: Man, the Miracle Maker", 1934, Horace Liveright
*"Ships: and How They Sailed the Seven Seas", 1935, Simon and Schuster
*"Around the World With the Alphabet", 1935, Simon and Schuster
*"Air-Storming" (radio talk), 1935, Harcourt, Brace
*"Love me not", 1935
*"A World Divided is a World Lost", 1935
*"The Home of Mankind; the story of the world we live in", 1936
*"The Songs We Sing" (with Grace Castagnetta), 1936, Simon and Schuster
*"The Arts", 1937, Simon and Schuster
*"Christmas Carols" (with Grace Castagnetta), 1937, Simon and Schuster
*"Observations on the mystery of print and the work of Johann Gutenberg", 1937
*"Our Battle: Being One Man's Answer to "My Battle" by Adolf Hitler", 1938
*"How to Look at Pictures", 1938
*"Folk Songs of Many Lands" (with Grace Castagnetta), 1938
*"The Last of the Troubadours", 1939
*"The Songs America Sings" (with Grace Castagnetta), 1939
*"My School Books", 1939
*"Invasion", 1940
*"The Story of the Pacific", 1940
*"The Life and Times of Bach", 1940
*"Good Tidings", 1941
*"Van Loon's Lives", 1942
*"Christmas Songs", 1942
*"The Message of the Bells", 1942
*"Fighters for Freedom: the Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson and Simon Bolivar", 1943
*"The Life and Times of Scipio Fulhaber, Chef de Cuisine", 1943
*"Adventures and Escapes of Gustavus Vasa", 1945
*"Report to Saint Peter" - an unfinished, posthumously published autobiography, 1947

Books about Van Loon

* cite book
title= Van Loon: Popular Historian, Journalist, and FDR Confidant
author= Cornelis van Minnen
year= 2005
publisher= Palgrave Macmillan
id= ISBN 1-4039-7049-1

* cite book
title= The story of Hendrik Willem van Loon
author= Gerard Willem Van Loon
year= 1972
publisher= Lippincott
id= ISBN 0-397-00844-9

Trivia

The Italian songwriter Francesco Guccini has composed a song, dedicated to the memory of hisfather. The song is titled "Van Loon" because Guccini's father loved Van Loon's books when he was young and appears in the album "Signora Bovary".

External links

* [http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/hendrikwillemvanloon.htm Biography from the Universalist Historical Society (UUHS)]
*

Persondata
NAME=Van Loon, Hendrik Willem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=VanLoon, Hendrik Willem;Loon, Hendrik Willem van
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Dutch-American historian and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH=January 14 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH=Rotterdam
DATE OF DEATH=March 11 1944
PLACE OF DEATH=Old Greenwich (Connecticut)