Editing Barbara W. Tuchman (section)

==Historian==
With the publication of ''Bible and Sword'' in 1956, Tuchman dedicated herself to historical research and writing, turning out a new book approximately every four years.<ref name=Pollack /> Rather than feeling hampered by the lack of an advanced degree in history, Tuchman argued that freedom from the rigors and expectations of academia was actually liberating.  She said that the norms of academic writing would have "stifled any writing capacity."<ref name=Pollack />

Tuchman favored a literary approach to the writing of history, providing eloquent explanatory narratives rather than concentration upon discovery and publication of fresh archival sources. In the words of one biographer, Tuchman was "not a historian's historian; she was a layperson's historian who made the past interesting to millions of readers".<ref>The words are those of Oliver B. Pollack in Paula E. Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore (eds.), ''Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia,'' p. 1415.</ref>

In 1971, Tuchman received the [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the [[Saint Louis University]] Library Associates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |title=Website of St. Louis Literary Award |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

In 1978, Tuchman was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter T|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterT.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 25, 2014}}</ref> She became the first female president of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] in 1979.<ref name=NYT022779>{{cite news |first=Nan |last=Robertson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/27/archives/barbara-tuchman-a-loner-at-the-top-of-her-field-couldnt-agree-more.html |title=Barbara Tuchman: A Loner at the Top of Her Field |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 27, 1979 |access-date=June 17, 2016}}</ref> She won a U.S. [[National Book Award]] [[List of winners of the National Book Award#History|in History]]<ref>This was the 1980 [[List of winners of the National Book Award#History|award for paperback History]]. From 1980 to 1983 in [[National Book Award#History|National Book Award history]] there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories, and [[National Book Award for Nonfiction#nonfiction categories|multiple nonfiction subcategories]]. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.</ref> for the first paperback edition of ''[[A Distant Mirror]]'' in 1980.<ref name=nba1980>{{cite web| url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980 |title=1980 National Book Awards Winners and Finalists, The National Book Foundation |publisher=Nationalbook.org |access-date=November 27, 2012}}</ref> Also in 1980 Tuchman gave the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]]' (NEH) [[Jefferson Lecture]], the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the [[humanities]]. Tuchman's lecture was titled "Mankind's Better Moments".<ref name="jefflect">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3HDDZsQSyUC&pg=PA1090 |title=Mankind's Better Moments, Jefferson Lecture &#124; National Endowment for the Humanities  |year=1993 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=9780160410246 |access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>

Tuchman was a trustee of Radcliffe College and a lecturer at [[Harvard University]], the [[University of California]], and the [[Naval War College]]. Although she never received a graduate degree in history, Tuchman was the recipient of a number of honorary degrees from leading American universities, including [[Yale University]], Harvard University, [[New York University]], [[Columbia University]], [[Boston University]], and [[Smith College]], among others.<ref name=Pollack />