Hendrik Willem Van Loon (January 14, 1882 - March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist. Born in Rotterdam, he came to the United States in 1903. He was a correspondent during the Russian revolutionary outbreak of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University. During the 1920s he wrote many books, most notably The Story of Mankind, a history of the world especially for children which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. He went on to write many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal style which, particularly in The Story of Mankind, included personal anecdotes.

Books

• The Story of Mankind
• The Fall of the Dutch Republic
• Van Loon's Geography
• Tolerance
• America
• The Story of the Bible
• R.V.R.: A Fictional Biography of Rembrandt
• The Arts
• Van Loon's Lives