Stewart, George R(ippey)

Stewart, George R[ippey] (1895–1980),Pennsylvania‐born educator and author, graduated from Princeton (1917), was a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley (1923–62). His nonfiction includes Bret Harte (1931); Ordeal by Hunger (1936), about the Donner Party; John Phoenix, Esquire (1937), a life of George H. Derby; Take Your Bible in One Hand (1939), a life of W.H. Thomes; Names on the Land (1945, extended 1957), a historical account of place‐naming in the U.S.; Pickett's Charge (1959), a vivid history of the final attack at Gettysburg; The California Trail (1962), a study of the main overland route to California in the 1840s and '50s; Committee of Vigilance (1964), about an episode in early San Francisco history; Good Lives (1967), studies of diverse people who had fulfilled lives; Not So Rich as You Think (1968), about man's despoiling of his environment, related to Stewart's long‐time concern with ecology; and two compendia, American Place‐Names (1970) and American Given Names (1979). Stewart's novels are East of the Giants (1938), set in pre‐gold‐rush California; Doctor's Oral (1939), about a Ph.D. examination; Storm (1941), whose main “character” is a low‐pressure area that occasions dramatic events as it bursts over California and sweeps the continent; Fire (1948), a similar treatment of a forest fire; Earth Abides (1949), about life after a disaster has killed all but a few people; Sheep Rock (1951), the ages‐long history of a Nevada site; and The Years of the City (1955), the life cycle of a Greek city.