BOURNE, Russell 1928-

PERSONAL:

Born October 10, 1928, in Boston, MA; son of Standish T. (a financial broker) and Sylvia (Russell) Bourne; married Miriam Anne (a writer; maiden name, Young), August 22, 1953 (died, June 21, 1989); married Dora Grabfield Flash (a lecturer at Cornell University), October 31, 1992; children: Sarah P., Jonathan, Louise, Andrew Russell. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Williams College, A.B. (magna cum laude), 1950. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Skiing, sailing, tennis, and "climbing the hillsides and canoeing the waterways of the still wild, still nourishing region of New England."

ADDRESSES:

Home—2 Fairway Dr., Ithaca, NY 14850-2764; (summers) Cannon Point Rd., Castine, ME 04421. Office—2 Fairway Dr., Ithaca, NY 14850-2764. Agent—Curtis Brown Ltd., 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Life, New York, NY, reporter, 1950-53; worked as assistant to Henry R. Luce; affiliated with Architectural Forum; American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, NY, editor of Junior Library and Horizon Caravel Books, 1960-69; National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, associate chief of Book Service, 1969-71; U.S. News and World Report Books, Washington, DC, consulting editor, 1975-76; Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC, senior editor of Exposition Books, 1977-79; Hearst Books, New York, NY, publisher of general books, 1980-81; American Heritage Publishing Co., New York, NY, publisher and editor, 1981-84. Bourne-Thompson & Associates, Washington, DC, partner, 1975-77; consultant to American Revolution Bicentennial Administration and National Wildlife Federation. Military service: U.S. Army, special agent in Counter Intelligence Corps; served in Berlin, Germany.

MEMBER:

American Canal Society, American Indian Archaeological Institute, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Liberty Bell Award for educational editorial work.

WRITINGS:

The View from Front Street: Travels through Historic New England Fishing Communities, Norton (New York, NY), 1989.

The Red King's Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England, 1675-1678, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1990.

The Big Golden Book of Christopher Columbus and Other Early Adventurers (illustrated by Thomas LaPadula), Golden Press (Racine, WI), 1991.

Floating West: The Erie and Other American Canals, Norton (New York, NY), 1992.

Americans on the Move: A History of Waterways, Railways, and Highways; With Maps and Illustrations from the Library of Congress, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1995.

(With Francis S. Kinney) The Best of the Best: The Yacht Designs of Sparkman and Stephens, Norton (New York, NY), 1996.

Invention in America, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1996.

Rivers of America: Birthplaces of Culture, Commerce, and Community, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1998.

Gods of War, Gods of Peace: How the Meeting of Native and Colonial Religions Shaped Early America, Harcourt (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to A Bicentennial Portrait of the American People, directing editor Joseph Newman, U.S. News & World Reports Books (New York, NY), 1975; and After Columbus: The Smithsonian Chronicle of the North American Indians, 1990. Editor, "Great Ages of Man" series, Time-Life, 1965-69. Contributor to magazines, including Smithsonian.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Gangs of Boston, John Wylie, Inc.

SIDELIGHTS:

Historian Russell Bourne has penned books about American history. During the 1990s, he tended to focus on aspects of invention and transportation in the United States. For instance, in 1992 he published Floating West: The Erie and Other American Canals, which a Publishers Weekly reviewer praised as a "delightful illustrated history" of the period when the Erie Canal was built and canals in general were essential to trade and transportation in the United States. Similarly, Robert Wehner in the Bloomsbury Review reported that in Invention in America, "Bourne provides real insight into the inventive process."

The historian took on a larger sociohistorical issue with his 2002 effort, Gods of War, Gods of Peace: How the Meeting of Native and Colonial Religions Shaped Early America. As the subtitle implies, this volume looks at the ways Native-American religion and religious figures interacted with the various sects of Christianity imported by European settlers. Though previous studies of this issue have emphasized what a Kirkus Reviews contributor called "the mostly destructive influences" of early Christian missionaries on Native Americans, Bourne points out that the Native Americans influenced the Christians as well. "This work offers a highly readable and valuable depiction" of the experiences of several representatives of the two religions, wrote Jan Blodgett in the Library Journal. A Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that "Bourne's excellent book tells a powerful tale of how two deeply religious cultures failed to achieve harmony."

Bourne once told CA: "My books and articles have allowed me to become a recognized spokesman for the myths and local histories of New England, as well as for the grand themes."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Quarterly, September, 1992, review of The Red King's Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England, 1675-1678, p. 467.

Bloomsbury Review, May-June, 1996, Robert Wehner, review of Invention in America, p. 26.

Booklist, April 15, 1992, Gilbert Taylor, review of Floating West: The Erie and Other American Canals, p. 1487.

Historian, autumn, 1991, Larry Bowman, review of The Red King's Rebellion, 1675-1678, p. 145.

Journal of American History, June, 1993, Peter Way, review of Floating West, p. 26.

Journal of Military History, April, 1991, Harold Selesky, review of The Red King's Rebellion, p, 241.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1992, review of Floating West, p. 581; February 15, 2002, review of Gods of War, Gods of Peace: How the Meeting of Native and Colonial Religions Shaped Early America, p. 232.

Library Journal, May 1, 1992, David Schau, review of Floating West, p. 96; March 15, 2002, Jan Blodgett, review of Gods of War, Gods of Peace, p. 85.

New England Quarterly, March, 1991, Douglas Wilson, review of The Red King's Rebellion, p, 171.

New York Times, July 15, 1990.

Publishers Weekly, May 4, 1992, review of Floating West, p. 51; March 11, 2002, review of Gods of War, Gods of Peace, p. 62.

Virginia Quarterly Review, autumn, 1992, review of Floating West, p. 115.

Western Historical Quarterly, August, 1991, John Morgan Dederer, review of The Red King's Rebellion, p. 365; May, 1993, Thomas Kinney, review of Floating West, p. 277.