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Owen Lattimore
OWEN LATTIMORE (1900-1989) was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia.
Born on July 29, 1900 in Washington, D.C., Lattimore spent his ...view moreOWEN LATTIMORE (1900-1989) was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia.
Born on July 29, 1900 in Washington, D.C., Lattimore spent his childhood in China and his school years in Switzerland and England. Returning to China at the age of nineteen, he worked for a year as a journalist and for six years in business. He then began research work in history and geography, in the course of which he took repeated journeys by camel and on horseback through Inner Mongolia. During World War II he served on Chiang Kai-shek’s staff and later as a political adviser to the Office of War Information.
A recognized authority on the area surrounding the Chinese land mass, Lattimore was the author of numerous books and many articles on the subject, both for popular magazines and scholarly journals. His Inner Asian Frontiers of China (1940) is considered a classic of frontier studies. Among his many other books are Mongol Journeys (1941), Nationalism and Revolution in Mongolia (1955) and Studies in Asian Frontier History: Collected Papers, 1928-1958 (1962). His books have been translated into many languages, including Chinese and Japanese.
In 1963, Lattimore was recruited from Johns Hopkins University to establish the Department of Chinese Studies (now East Asian Studies) at the University of Leeds in England. In addition to setting up Chinese Studies, he promoted Mongolian Studies, building good relations between Leeds and Mongolia and establishing a programme in Mongolian Studies in 1968. He remained at Leeds until he retired as Emeritus Professor in 1970. The university conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) on Emeritus Professor Lattimore honoris causa to Lattimore in 1984.
Lattimore was a member of the American Geographical Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the American Philosophical Society.
He died on May 31, 1989 in Providence, Rhode Island, aged 88.view less