Alexander Saxton, one of the most original progressive historians in America, has died, age 93.
Saxton was the author of The Rise and Fall of the White Republic, a brilliant survey of the role of racism in nineteenth-century politics that still has deep relevance today. (See review.)
A Harvard undergraduate who turned union organizer who turned successful writer then went back for a PhD when his books were blacklisted, Saxton chose to end his own life.
Here is a full obituary.