Alvin M. Josephy Jr. (1915–2005) was an American historian who specialized in Native American issues.
Josephy's mother was a daughter of Samuel Knopf and a sister of Alfred A. Knopf.
Josephy attended the Horrace Mann School and then Harvard for two years. He was then involved in Hollywood script writing, and as a newspaper correspondent. Josephy joined Time (magazine) as the photo editor in the 1950s. It was here he became attracted to Native American history. From 1960 on Josephy worked for the publication American Heritage.
Among works by Josephy are The Patriot Chiefs (1961); Chief Joseph's People and Their War (1964), The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest (1965), The Heritage of American (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968); Red Power: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom (1971) and Now That the Buffalo's Gone (1982); Black Hills, White Sky; The Civil War in the American West and History of the Congress of the United States.
Josephy served as an advisor to both Stewart Udall and Richard Nixon on Indian Policy.[1]