Pulitizer Prize winner Oscar Handlin (born 1915) ranks as one of the most prolific and influential American historians of the twentieth century, with pioneering works in the fields of immigration history, ethnic history, and social history.

Oscar Handlin was born on Sept. 29, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was involved in running a grocery store, a steam laundry, and real estate. Handlin decided to become an historian at the age of eight and began reading avidly, even while delivering groceries for his father. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934 after only three years, winning the Union League History Prize; one year later, he earned his master's degree at Harvard University. He had intended to study medieval history, but specialized in American history because he thought the person one studied with was more important than the field itself; the medievalist had retired, so...