BARBARA W. TUCHMAN was a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of numerous acclaimed works of history. Her titles include Bible and Sword, The Zimmermann Telegram, The Proud Tower, Notes from China, A Distant Mirror, Practicing History, The March of Folly, and The First Salute. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1963 for The Guns of August and again in 1972 for Stilwell and the American Experience in China.
Following her graduation from Radcliffe College in 1933, she took a position with the American Council of the Institute of Pacific Relations in Japan, where she also wrote for the Far Eastern Survey and Pacific Affairs. Upon her return to the United States, Tuchman began working for The Nation, and in 1937 she corresponded from Valencia and Madrid on the Spanish Civil War. She died in February 1989 and was survived by her husband, three daughters, and four grandchildren.