James Tobin (author) facts for kids

James E. Tobin is an American author who writes interesting books about history and people's lives. He was born in 1956. One of his most famous books is Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II, which won a big award called the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1997.

Since 2006, he has been a professor of journalism at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This means he teaches students how to be journalists and writers.

James Tobin has written many other books too. These include To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight, which is about how the Wright brothers invented the airplane. He also wrote The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency, which tells the story of how Franklin D. Roosevelt, a former U.S. President, overcame polio. In 2021, he wrote a version of Roosevelt's story especially for young adults, called Master of His Fate: Roosevelt's Rise from Polio to the Presidency.

He has also written books for younger children! He worked with a cartoonist named Dave Coverly to create two picture books: Sue MacDonald Had a Book (published in 2009) and The Very Inappropriate Word (published in 2013).

James Tobin has a special connection to the University of Michigan because he studied there. He has written many articles about the university's history. A collection of these articles, called Sing to the Colors: A Writer Explores Two Centuries at the University of Michigan, was published in 2021. He also helped plan and edit an illustrated book about the university, "Our Michigan," which was published in 2024.

He earned his first degree (a B.A.) in 1978 and his advanced degree (a PhD) in history in 1986, both from the University of Michigan. Before becoming a professor, he worked as a reporter for the Detroit News newspaper from 1986 to 1998.

Recognizing James Tobin's Work

James Tobin's books have received several important awards and honors. These awards show how much his writing is appreciated.

Awards for Ernie Pyle's War

• Ernie Pyle's War won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the biography/autobiography category in 1997. This award is given to excellent books about people's lives.
• The New York Times newspaper also recognized it as a Notable Book of 1997, meaning it was one of the year's most important books.

Awards for To Conquer the Air

• To Conquer the Air received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award in 2000. This award helps writers who are working on important non-fiction books.
• It also won the Great Lakes Book Award.
• A historian named William Rosen, writing in the Wall Street Journal, listed To Conquer the Air as one of the "Five Best" books about invention.

Awards for The Man He Became

• The Man He Became earned a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2008. This fellowship supports scholars and writers doing important research.
• It was also a runner-up for the Chautauqua Book Prize in 2014.