Biography

Donald L. Miller is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and one of the most respected authorities on World War II and US History. His books have been nominated for, and won, a variety of awards and he is a frequent consultant and adviser on historical productions, including those for PBS and HBO.

His books include Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America (2014), City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America (1996), The Kingdom of Coal: Work, Enterprise, and Ethnic Communities in the Mine Fields (with Richard E. Sharpless, 1999), and Lewis Mumford: A Life (1989). City of the Century won the 1997 Great Lakes Book Award for Outstanding Work of Nonfiction and Lewis Mumford was a New York Times notable Book.

Miller is widely acclaimed for his books on World War II, most notably the bestselling Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (2007). HBO is currently developing a miniseries based upon Masters of the Air, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Miller previously worked with Spielberg and Hanks as a historical consultant for the ten-part HBO series The Pacific. He was also the on-camera historian, writer, and chief consultant for the series’ accompanying documentary. Miller served as coproducer and cocreator, with Hanks, on He Has Seen War, an HBO documentary on World War II troops returning home. Miller’s other World War II books are D-Days in the Pacific (2004) and The Story of World War II (2001).

Miller has also served as a writer and historical consultant for many film and TV productions, including the History Channel’s WWII in HD (winner of three Emmys) and The Air War, which was inspired by his book Masters of the Air, and The Night of the Long Knives. His contributions to PBS’s “American Experience” series include The Bombing of Germany, Victory in the Pacific (nominated for three Emmys), Ulysses S. Grant, and Abe and Mary. His PBS program America, 1900 won a Peabody Award for excellence in programming. Miller also co-produced, wrote, and hosted “A Biography of America,” a twenty-six-part series for PBS.

Miller has also served as a writer and historical consultant for many productions, including WWII in HD (History Channel, 2009); American Experience: The Bombing of Germany (PBS, 2010); American Experience: Victory in the Pacific (PBS, 2005); A Biography of America (PBS); and several programs by the History Channel.

Miller has won six awards for excellence in teaching, five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a number of prestigious book awards. He was a resident scholar at All Souls College, Oxford, and was also named the Crayenborgh Lecturer at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

In addition to his teaching and writing duties, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Vincent College and the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. He is a member and cofounder of the Presidential Counselors, an advisory board to the CEO of the National World War II Museum and a Fellow and Seminar Leader of the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Miller received his PhD from the University of Maryland and joined the Lafayette College faculty in 1978. He has also taught at Cornell University’s School for Industrial and Labor Relations, the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Oxford University. He is the recipient of an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from St. Vincent College and Outstanding Alumni awards from the University of Maryland and Ohio University.

Following Hurricane Katrina, he appeared on CNN and National Public Radio and was quoted by a number of national publications, including The New York Times, for his writings on American and European urban disasters, including the Great Chicago Fire and the destruction by bombing of the World War II cities of Japan and Germany.

Miller has been the keynote speaker at events sponsored by professional, business, and academic audiences. Among the organizations he has spoken to are: IBM, AT&T, the Federal Reserve Bank (Chicago), The Chicago Historical Society, the Aspen Institute, the Television Critics Association, Russell Reynolds Associates, the New York State Assembly, the American Architectural Association, the Smithsonian Institution, the National D-Day Museum, the Municipal Arts Society, New York, the American Historical Association, the Annenberg Foundation, the World Trade Center Chicago, the Embassy of the United States, London, Churchill College, Cambridge, and the National Press Club.