Hickey, Donald R. 1944–

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Hickey, Donald R. 1944–

PERSONAL:

Born 1944. Education: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, B.A., 1966, M.A., 1968, Ph.D., 1972.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, Wayne State College, 1111 Main St., Wayne, NE 68787.

CAREER:

Writer, historian, reviewer, lecturer, and educator. University of California, Santa Barbara, lecturer, 1976-77; Wayne State College, Wayne, NE, assistant professor, became professor of history, 1978—. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS, John F. Morrison Professor of Military History, 1991-92. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, visiting lecturer, 1972-73, 1981; University of Colorado, Boulder, visiting assistant professor, 1973-75; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, visiting assistant professor, 1978; U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI, visiting professor of strategy, 1995-96.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Research grant, Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, 1986; National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship for College Teachers, 1988-89; Best Book Award, American Military Institute, and National Historical Society Book Prize, both 1990, both for The War of 1812; Burlington Northern Award for outstanding teaching, 1991; Commander's Award for Public Service, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1992; Pi Gamma Mu Outstanding Faculty Member award, 1992-93; Burlington Northern Award for outstanding scholarship, 1993.

WRITINGS:

The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 1989.

Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska's Past, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1992, new edition, 2007.

The War of 1812: A Short History, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 1995.

Don't Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 2006.

(Editor, with Connie D. Clark) Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2006.

Contributor to books, including the World Book Encyclopedia; Nebraska Voices: Telling the Stories of Our State, edited by Jim Cihlar, Nebraska Humanities Council (Lincoln, NE), 1993; Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, edited by Leonard Levy and Louis Visher, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994; Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, edited by Donald C. Bacon, 4 volumes, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994; James Madison and the American Nation, 1751-1836, edited by Robert A Rutland, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1994; Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, edited by Bruce W. Jentleson and Gaddis Smith, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997; The Conservative Press in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century America, edited by Ronald Lora and William Longton, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1999; The Oxford Companion to American Military History, edited by John Whiteclay Chambers II et al., Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000; and The American Congress: The Building of Democracy, edited by Julian Zelizer, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals and journals, including the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Maryland Historian, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Soundings, Pennsylvania Magazine, New England Quarterly, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, West Virginia History, Journal of American Studies, Indiana Magazine of History, Military Affairs, Journal of American History, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Journal of the Early Republic, William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of the War of 1812, War of 1812 Magazine, Journal of the West, Business History Review, and History at Illinois. Midwest Review: A Journal of the History and Culture of the Missouri Valley, editor, 1978-83; War of 1812 series, Johns Hopkins University Press, editor, 2007—. Military Review, member of advisory board, 1991-92; Journal of the Early Republic, member of editorial board, 1993-97; Journal of the War of 1812, member of board of advisors, 2002—; War of 1812 Magazine, member of editorial board, 2006—. Author of column, Journal of the War of 1812, 2002—.

SIDELIGHTS:

A prolific author, historian, and reviewer, Donald R. Hickey is a specialist in the history and effects of the War of 1812. His work often reveals humorous or little-known aspects of otherwise famous events and personalities. In Don't Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812, Hickey strives to distinguish fact from fiction about the famous conflict "by exposing the many myths and biased assumptions about the war," noted a reviewer in the Reference & Research Book News. Hickey first offers a prologue that summarizes the history and background of the war, and places the events that led up to it in their proper context. Throughout the rest of the book, he carefully and methodically addresses the many myths that have arisen about the War of 1812. With his analysis and efforts, Hickey "shows how myth has helped construct a history that we can understand and accept," observed a contributor to Publishers Weekly. He thoroughly looks at myths and misconceptions about the war's causes, its battles and campaigns, its military leadership, its political implications, and its outcomes. He considers well-told tales, such as Colonel Henry Johnson's killing of Indian chief Tecumseh in hand-to-hand combat; Captain James Lawrence's legendary utterance of "Don't give up the ship"; and notorious pirate Jean Lafitte's role in the Battle of New Orleans, and how is brother Pierre Lafitte may have had the greater influence. The Publishers Weekly reviewer stated that Hickey's work further galvanizes his status as a "leading scholar of the early national period." A reviewer in Esprit de Corps commented that "this entertaining, informative and provocative study offers a unique take on the War of 1812."

Hickey also studies influential leaders in early American history. Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder, edited by Hickey and Connie D. Clark, provides a collection of "shining quotations and insights from one of the great figures of American history," commented an Internet Bookwatch reviewer. As a member of George Washington's staff during the American Revolution, and as the first treasury secretary of the United States, Hamilton was a dedicated participant in the forging of America. The quotations and remarks presented in the book attest to Hamilton's intelligence, wit, wisdom, and character.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1992, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 613.

American History Illustrated, November 1, 1990, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 20.

Canadian Journal of History, August, 1990, Reginald C. Stuart, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 297.

Choice, July, 2007, R. Dunnavent, review of Don't Give Up the Ship! Myths of the War of 1812, p. 1962.

Esprit De Corps, December, 2006, review of Don't Give Up the Ship!, p. 46.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, June, 1991, David Chandler, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 330.

International History Review, June, 2007, Reginald C. Stuart, review of Don't Give Up the Ship!, p. 380.

Internet Bookwatch, June, 2007, review of Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder.

Journal of American History, March, 1991, Douglas R. Egerton, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 1351.

Journal of Military History, July, 1990, Ralph P. Dupont, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 349.

Journal of Southern History, August, 1991, Frank A. Cassell, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 510.

Journal of the Early Republic, summer, 1990, Harry L. Coles, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict; summer, 2007, Gene Allen Smith, review of Don't Give Up the Ship!

Journal of the West, January, 1995, Loren N. Horton, review of Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska's Past, p. 103.

Military History, March, 2007, Kenneth P. Czech, "Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence," review of Don't Give Up the Ship!, p. 69.

New England Quarterly, September, 1990, Albert T. Klyberg, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 500.

Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2006, review of Don't Give Up the Ship!, p. 43.

Queen's Quarterly, summer, 1992, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2007, review of Don't Give Up the Ship!

Reviews in American History, June, 1991, Roger H. Brown, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 183.

Roundup Magazine, August, 1996, review of Nebraska Moments, p. 25.

Western Historical Quarterly, May, 1993, review of Nebraska Moments, p. 283.

William and Mary Quarterly, April, 1991, Jane Errington, review of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, p. 338.