Ariel Durant

Ariel Durant was born Chaya Kaufman in 1898 in Ukraine and grew up in New York. She studied at the Ferrer Modern School, where she met Will Durant; they married in 1913. She collaborated on the research and writing of The Story of Civilization and was credited as co-author beginning with the later volumes. Rousseau and Revolution won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968. In 1977 she and Will received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in October 1981; Will died two weeks later. This library lists the Civilization volumes under both names where she is credited, and keeps The Story of Philosophy under Will alone. Her collaboration made the later Civilization volumes a joint public voice for popular history aimed at general readers who wanted narrative breadth rather than specialist monographs alone.

Faith: Born to a Jewish family (Kaufman) and later associated with Will Durant's move away from preparation for Catholic priesthood toward philosophy; public record emphasizes their humanist historical project more than formal affiliation. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Will Durant