Peter Viereck
Peter Robert Edwin Viereck (August 5, 1916 – May 13, 2006) was an American writer, poet and professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1949 for the collection Terror and Decorum.[1][2] In 1955 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Florence.
This article is about the American writer. For the German city, see Viereck.
Peter Viereck
5 August 1916
13 May 2006 (aged 89)
Poet and professor
Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD)
History
Background[edit]
Viereck was born in New York City, the son of George Sylvester Viereck. He received his B.A. summa cum laude in history from Harvard University in 1937. He then specialized in European history, receiving his M.A. in 1939 and his Ph.D. in 1942, again from Harvard. Viereck was prolific in his writing from 1938. He published collections of poems, some first published in Poetry Magazine. He won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1949 for the collection Terror and Decorum.[1][2] In 1955 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Florence.
Viereck first taught during 1946–1947 at Smith College. In 1948 he joined the faculty at nearby Mount Holyoke College, also a women's college in Massachusetts. He taught history for nearly fifty years. He retired in 1987 but continued to teach his Russian history survey course there until 1997.
Viereck died on May 13, 2006, in South Hadley, Massachusetts after a prolonged illness.