William H. Goetzmann, who passed away in 2010, was Professor Emeritus and Jack S. Blanton Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of many acclaimed books, including the Pulitzer Prize– and Francis Parkman Award–winner, Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and Scientist in the Winning of the American West (Knopf, 1966), New Lands, New Men: America and the Second Great Age of Discovery (Viking, 1986) and The West of the Imagination (Norton, 1988), which was the basis for a major PBS series.

    Goetzmann’s final book, Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism, was published by Basic Books in 2009. He passed away in September 2010.