Garry wills biography of michael

American author, political philosopher and historian (born 1934)

For the American jazz musician, see Gary Willis.

Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church.

He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1993.

Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books.^[1] He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.

Early years

Wills was born on May 22, 1934, in Atlanta, Georgia.^[2] His father, Jack Wills, was from a Protestant background, and his mother was from an Irish Catholic family.^[3] He was reared as Catholic and grew up in Michigan and Wisconsin, graduating in 1951 from Campion High School, a Jesuit institut