Peter Novick facts for kids
Peter Novick (born July 26, 1934, in Jersey City – died February 17, 2012, in Chicago) was an American historian. A historian is someone who studies and writes about the past. He was a professor of history at the University of Chicago.
Novick was well-known for writing two important books. These were That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession and The Holocaust in American Life. The second book was also published as The Holocaust and Collective Memory in some countries. He passed away in 2012 from lung cancer.
Peter Novick studied at Columbia University. He earned his first degree there in 1957. He then completed his advanced degree, a doctorate, in 1965.
His Important Books
Peter Novick wrote two major books that are still discussed today. These books explored how history is written and understood.
That Noble Dream
His book That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession looks at a big question. It asks how historians try to be objective. Being objective means trying to be fair and unbiased. It means presenting facts without personal feelings.
The book explores how the idea of objectivity in history started. It also shows how this idea changed over the 20th century. Novick focused on history departments in universities in the United States. However, he also traced the idea of objectivity back to 19th-century Germany. He mentioned a famous German historian named Leopold von Ranke.
The Holocaust in American Life
Novick's other major book was The Holocaust in American Life. This book explores how the Holocaust has been remembered in the United States. The Holocaust was a terrible event during World War II. Millions of Jewish people were killed by the Nazis.
Novick suggested that the Holocaust was not talked about much right after World War II. He believed this was partly because of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the U.S. wanted to be friends with West Germany. He also thought some American Jews did not want to be seen as victims. This idea has been debated by other historians since his book came out.
