Donald Kagan received his PhD from Ohio State in 1958 and has become one of America’s most celebrated living historians. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university for his tireless work in the field of ancient history.
His main focus has been the history of Ancient Greece, specifically the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), which was a conflict between Athens and Sparta. Kagan is regarded as the world’s top scholar of the war and his work is essential to anyone researching this time period.
Throughout his career he has been awarded numerous fellowships, prizes and other distinctions, including the National Humanities Medal in 2002 and appointment as the National Endowment for the Humanities Jefferson Lecturer in 2005, which is one of the highest honors open to humanities scholars.