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BiographyMcNeill was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the son of theologian and educator John T. McNeill.
He was educated at the University of Chicago, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1938, and Master of Arts (M.A.) in 1939. He obtained his PhD at Cornell University in 1947.
McNeill's most popular work, completed early in his career, is The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (University of Chicago Press, 1963). The book explored world history in terms of the effect of different old world civilizations on one another, and especially the dramatic effect of Western civilization on others in the past 500 years. It had a major impact on historical theory, especially its emphasis on cultural fusions, in contradistinction to Oswald Spengler's view of discrete, independent civilizations. Rise of the West won the 1964 U.S. National Book Award in History and Biography.
McNeill was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama on February 25, 2010. The citation recognizes "his exceptional talent as a teacher and scholar at the University of Chicago and as an author of more than twenty books, including The Rise of the West, which traces civilizations through 5,000 years of recorded history."
McNeill's Plagues and Peoples was an important early contribution to the impact of disease on human history and led to the emergence of environmental history as a discipline.
McNeill is the father of historian J. R. McNeill.
McNeill is retired and, since 2006, a widower.
Bibliography(2011). Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, 2nd Edition (with Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian et al., editors). 6 volumes. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group.
Summers Long Ago: On Grandfather's Farm and in Grandmother's Kitchen
(2005). The Pursuit of Truth: A Historian's Memoir. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
(2005). Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (with Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian et al., editors). 5 volumes. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group.
(2003). The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History (with J. R. McNeill). New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-92568-4
(1998). A World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 4th edition. (First published 1967). ISBN 0-19-511616-X
(1995). Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
(1991). Hutchins' University. A Memoir of the University of Chicago. 1929-1950. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-56170-4
(1989). Arnold J. Toynbee: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506335-X
(1982). The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-56157-7
(1980). The Human Condition: An Ecological and Historical View. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05317-0
. (March 1979), "Historical Patterns of Migration (with comment & reply)", Current Anthropology 20 (1): 95–102, JSTOR 2741864, PMID 11630845
(1976). Plagues and Peoples. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-12122-9.
(1974). Venice: The Hinge of Europe, 1081-1797. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-56149-3.
(1974). The Shape of European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-501807-3
(1973). "The Ecumene: Story of Humanity". Harper & Row. 0065520424
(1963). The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Revised edition, 1991. ISBN 978-0-226-56141-7.
(1949). History of Western Civilization: A Handbook. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 6th edition, 1986. ISBN 978-0-226-56159-2.
"The Introduction of the Potato into Ireland," The Journal of Modern History Vol. 21, No. 3, September 1949
(1947). The Greek Dilemma War And Aftermath J. B. Lippincott Company, London: Victor Gollancz, 1947