T. Walter Wallbank

Thomas Walter Wallbank (July 27, 1901 – May 16, 1992) was an American historian and one of the original authors of the best-selling textbook Civilization Past & Present.

T. Walter Wallbank

Biography

Wallbank taught history at the University of Southern California from 1933 to 1964. He collaborated with Alastair M. Taylor to write Civilization Past & Present. Civilization (1942) was the first world-history textbook published in the United States to enjoy great success in sales.[1] Other authors eventually joined the writing team for later editions.

Wallbank's areas of specialization were South Asia and Africa. He received the Watumull Prize of the American Historical Association award in 1950 for another book, India in the New Era.

He was a Fulbright professor at Fuad University in Cairo from 1951 to 1952. After receiving a Rockefeller Grant, he undertook field work in Africa, Pakistan and India, from 1955 to 1956.[2]

Selected bibliography

• Civilization Past & Present, with Alastair M. Taylor (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1942 and subsequent editions) ISBN 978-0673388681.
• The World in Turmoil, 1914-1944, with Alastair M. Taylor (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1944).
• India: A Survey of the Heritage and Growth of Indian Nationalism (New York: Henry Holt, 1948).
• India in the New Era (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1951). Reprinted in an abridged but revised edition as A Short History of India and Pakistan (New York: New American Library, 1958).
• Man's Story: World History in Its Geographic Setting (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1951 and subsequent editions).
• Western Perspectives: A Concise History of Civilization, with Alastair M. Taylor and Nels M. Bailkey (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1973).

References

1. A List of the Best, New York Times, August 2, 1987
2. T. Walter Wallbank; USC History Professor, Author, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1992