Harlow Giles Unger

Harlow Giles Unger was an American author and historian, as well as a journalist, broadcaster and educator. He was the author of many books, including the three-volume Encyclopedia of American Education.

Early life

Unger was born on August 3, 1931. He was educated at the Taft School, graduating in 1949. He graduated from Yale College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1953, and he earned a master's degree from California State University.

Career

Unger was a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune Overseas News Service in Paris, and later worked as a free-lance news and features writer for newspapers and magazines in Britain, Canada, and other countries. To his work in newspaper and magazine journalism, he added writing for radio and academics, becoming an on-air commentator in New York for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and an adjunct associate professor of English and journalism at two New York-area colleges.
Unger was a former Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon, and as of 2020 he had written twenty-seven books, including ten biographies of America's founding fathers as well as a biography of statesman Henry Clay.

Personal life and death

Unger formerly resided in Paris, France. He resided in New York City. An avid skier and horseman, he had secondary homes in Chamonix, France, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He had one son, Richard C. Unger.
Unger died on September 23, 2025, at the age of 94.