Robert Darnton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian, recognized as a leading expert on eighteenth century France.
He graduated from Harvard University in 1960, attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship, and earned a Ph.D. (D. Phil.) in history from Oxford in 1964. He worked as reporter at The New York Times from 1964 to 1965. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1982, and was President of the American Historical Association in 1987. As of 2005 he is Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of European History at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1968.
Darnton is a pioneer in the growing field of the history of the book. One of his books is The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996). He currently is writing about electronic publishing. He is founder of the Gutenberg-e program, sponsored by Mellon Foundation.
In 1999 he was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, the highest award given by the French government, in recognition of his work.
