George Athan Billias

Who is George Athan Billias?

George Athan Billias is an American historian.

Billias was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. from Bates College in 1948 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1958. He served as a military historian for the U.S. Air Force, and as a medical administrative officer during World War II. Billias received the Bronze Star for gallantry in evacuating wounded from the Remagen bridgehead during the Battle of the Bulge.

Billias is the Jacob and Frances Hiatt Professor of History Emeritus at Clark University. He has written several books, including George Washington's Generals And Opponents and General John Glover and His Marblehead Mariners, as well as edited several collections including American Constitutionalism Abroad: Selected Essays in Comparative Constitutional History. Billias also wrote Eldridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. One of his early works was The Massachusetts Landbankers of 1740 published in 1959 by the University of Maine Press. He specializes in Colonial, Revolutionary War era, and Early National period America, with special emphasis on economic, military, legal, and constitutional subjects. Most recently, he has focused on the influence of the American constitution on the world. His book American Constitutionalism Around the World, 1776-1989 won the New England Historical Association's 2010 book award.