Chester G. Starr

Background

Chester G. Starr was born October 5, 1914, Centralia, Missouri, United States.

Education

Starr received his Ph.D. in 1938 from Cornell University.

Career

Between 1940 and 1953 Starr taught at the University of Illinois at Urban. After thirty years in Urban, he moved to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he taught until 1973. In 1974, he became the first president of the American Association of Historians of the Ancient World. He served as a visiting professor at numerous other institutions including the University of Michigan, where he eventually attained professor emeritus status. In his career, he dedicated many years to studying ancient history, as well as writing about it.

Chester's 1948 book, From Salerno to the Alps, 1943-1945, was his first, and his only work about modem times. His second book, Emergence of Rome as Ruler of the Western World, was published two years later. He went on to write over twenty other books, including History of the Ancient World, published in 1965, Early Man, published in 1973, The Flawed Mirror, published in 1983, and his last book, Aristocratic Temper of Greek Civilization, which was published in 1991.

Achievements

• Chester Starr made a significant contribution to the study of ancient history, ancient art and archeology of Greco-Roman civilization. Among his historical works are twenty-one books, dozens of articles and over one hundred book reviews. His best-known text, A History of the Ancient World, was reissued with successive enlargements between 1965 and 1991.

Works

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  • The Awakening of the Greek Historical Spirit

    (The idea of explaining man's present condition by a disci...)

    1968
  • The Roman Empire, 27 B.C.-A.D. 476: A Study in Survival

    (In this probing study, Starr covers the whole sweep of im...)

    1983
  • The Ancient Greeks

    (A realistic account of life in ancient Greece as experien...)

    1971
  • A History of the Ancient World

    (Traces the origins of civilization from prehistoric times...)

    1983
  • The Influence of Sea Power of Ancient History

    (In the 19th-century classic, The Influence of Sea Power U...)

    1999
  • The Aristocratic Temper of Greek Civilization

    (A timely reassessment of the vital social, cultural, and ...)

    1992
  • The Birth of Athenian Democracy: The Assembly in the Fifth Century B.C.

    (The topic of Athenian democracy is a popular one among sc...)

    1990
  • Early Man: Prehistory and the Civilizations of the Ancient Near East

    (Describes the life and problems of prehistoric man, exami...)

    1973
  • The Ancient Romans

    (An account of Roman civilization which brings into view t...)

    1971
  • The Origins of Greek Civilization: 1100-650 B.C.

    (When the great citadel of Mycenae, then the center of the...)

    1991
  • Emergence of Rome As Ruler of the Western World

    (Surveys the rise of Roman Europe from the arrival in Ital...)

    1953
  • Individual and Community: The Rise of the Polis, 800-500 B.C.

    (During the three centuries from 800 to 500 B.C., the Gree...)

    1986
  • A History of the Ancient World 1991
  • The Roman Imperial Navy, 31 B.C.- A.D. 324 1960
  • The Emergence of Rome as Ruler of the Western World 1987

Views

Starr defined his historical methodology as Hegelian, especially in the book Intellectual Revolution in the Roman Empire (1954). In the book, which is considered his most significant work, namely, in the Origin of Hellenic Civilization (1961), he adheres to the Nordic theory, which sought to interpret Greek cultural achievements from a racial point of view. His approach focuses on individuals as engines of historical change; he also opposed such a dominant methodology of his time as the Annals School.

References

• A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers: 1999-2000 Reference. An indispensible reference for publicists, events planners, writers in search of mentors or colleagues, and anyone else who wants to reach writers.
  1999