The importance of Merle Curti to American historiography is both immense and elusive. Although possessed of a powerful and wide-ranging mind, he has spent his career working within the intellectual structure created by the "progressive historians" of the early twentieth century. As their disciple, Curti's principal role has been one of preservation and completion; his task has been to flesh out the progressive synthesis and to pass it on to the post-World War II generation. While Curti's most monumental work has lost its central position in the historical canon, its influence remains strong. More important, his commitment to extending the purview of history to include the lives and culture of ordinary folk makes him a father both of the American Studies movement and of the "new social history."

Merle Eugene Curti was born on 15 September 1897 in Papillion, Nebraska, near Omaha, the son of John Eugene Curti, a Swiss...