The American historian David M. Potter (1910-1971) was trained as a Civil War historian, but earned his reputation for his book People of Plenty (1953), which was one of the significant texts of the era. He wrote extensively on the American society, the American character, and historiography.

following year. It was seven years, however, before he received his Ph.D. from Yale. He began his graduate study under Ulrich B. Phillips, a historian of the South, but completed work under Ralph H. Gabriel, an American intellectual historian. These two scholars influenced his choice of subjects for the rest of his life.

Potter began his teaching career as an instructor of history at the University of Mississippi in 1936. He taught there for two years before moving to Rice University. While in Texas he married his first wife, Ethelyn Henry, in 1939. He left Rice in 1942 to become master of Timothy Dwight...