Barbara Wertheim Tuchman (January 30, 1912 – February 6, 1989) was an American historian and author.

Tuchman, daughter of a banker and granddaughter of Henry Morgenthau Sr., Woodrow Wilson's Ambassador to Turkey , received her BA from Radcliffe College in 1933 and worked as a journalist for a number of years before turning to writing books.

As an author, Tuchman focused on producing popular history. Her clear, dramatic storytelling covered topics as diverse as the 14th century and World War I, and sold millions of copies.

Tuchman was the author of books which aspired to be more popular than the established classics of the field. Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor, a history of medieval historians, describes her work in context.

Partial List of Works

• The Lost British Policy: a book about British policy in Spain and the western Mediterranean, 1938
• Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour: a book about English involvement in Palestine over the centuries, 1956.
• The Zimmermann Telegram: The Zimmerman telegram was a key incident that provoked the USA into entering World War I, 1958
• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, an overview of 14th Century medieval Europe. A good place to start. 1978
• The Guns of August covers the breaking out of World War I. The book that established her reputation. 1962
• The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914. Covers the hesitant rise of U.S. imperialism, anarchist assassinations, socialism and communism and the devolution of the 19th century order in Europe and North America. 1962
• Stilwell and the American Experience in China: a biography of Joseph Stilwell, 1970.
• The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution. 1988
• From Troy to Vietnam: A meditation on unwisdom (as distinct from stupidity) as a force in history. 1984
• Practicing History: Selected essays on historical writing, political ambition, and the importance of reading history. Original essays published between 1935 and 1981.
• Fin De Siecle a novel.

She won twice the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, first for The Guns of August and again for Stilwell and the American Experience in China.

1912 births | 1989 deaths | Historians of the United States | Pulitzer Prize winners | Women writers

Barbara Tuchman | Barbara Tuchman | ברברה טוכמן | Barbara Tuchman | バーバラ・タックマン | Barbara Tuchman