McFarland, Gerald W.

A native Californian, Gerald W. McFarland received his doctorate in U.S. history from Columbia University (1965) and taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for forty-four years. During that time he published four books in his field. He received many honors, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship; the Colonial Dames of America cited his book, A Scattered People: An American Family Moves West, as one of the three best books in American history published in 1985. He and his wife live in rural Western Massachusetts.