William Manchester (1922-2004) was an award-winning American author, biographer, historian, and a professor emeritus of history at Wesleyan University. Among his many New York Times bestselling books are A World Lit Only by Fire; The Glory and the Dream; American Caesar; Goodbye, Darkness; and The Last Lion, a multivolume biography of Winston Churchill. He was also a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award.