Fiske, John

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

John (1842-1901), an American historian. He was born at Hartford, Connecticut, and died at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He was graduated at Harvard in 1863, and a year later he was admitted to the bar, but he had no desire to practice. During his sophomore year he attracted attention by a paper in the National Quarterly Review, entitled "Mr. Buckle's Fallacies." It was a critical review of Buckle's History of Civilization in England. For about ten years, from 1869 to 1879, Mr. Fiske held a position in Harvard University as a lecturer on philosophy, and as an assistant librarian. During this period he published Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy and read incessantly. In 1884 he was made professor of American history in Washington University at St. Louis, a position which he held for some years. Mr. Fiske's later years were filled to the full by writing and lecturing. He went abroad a number of times, giving among others a course of lectures on American history at the University of London. Mr. Fiske's chief philosophical works are: Myths and Myth Makers, Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, Idea of God, and Origin of Evil, Excursions of an Evolutionist, and The Destiny of Man. Named in the order in which they appeared, his chief historical works are: The Critical Period of American History, The War of Independence, The Beginnings of New England , The American Revolution, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, The Dutch and Quaker Colonies, New France and New England. Taken in chronological order, they form a history of the United States from the discovery of America to the adoption of the Constitution. Mr. Fiske died before he finished writing, but he left a monumental amount of work. As a historian, he belongs to the older literary type rather than the modern scientific; but he has done invaluable service in popularizing the results of other men's research. See Bancroft ; Prescott