Bernard Bailyn has strongly influenced the study of early American history with his powerful monographs ranging in subject from seventeenth-century New England merchants to the origins of the American Revolution. In his writings, which include economic, social, intellectual, and political history, Bailyn has been a persistent innovator in the application of new research methods, particularly in the use of quantitative techniques, kinship analysis, and collective biography.

Bailyn was born on 10 September 1922 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Charles M. and Esther Schloss Bailyn. He discovered early an interest in history while attending Williams College, where he also studied literature and philosophy. Before receiving an A.B. in 1945, his college years were interrupted by service in the Army Security Agency and the Army Signal Corps during World War II. He later pursued his studies at Harvard and received his M.A. in 1947. In his doctoral research at Harvard, Bailyn came under...