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The James Kirby Martin Book Prize
The James Kirby Martin Book Prize
A Gala Event
In Memory of our Dear Friend and Board Member James Kirby Martin
Saturday, October 18, 2025
6:30 PM
Event Location:
Crowne Plaza Albany - the Desmond Hotel - 660 Albany Shaker Rd, Albany, NY 12211 - Minutes from Albany International Airport (Hotel Provides Shuttle, Inquire when making Reservations)
Event Tickets:
Please Click Here to Order an Individual Ticket - $150
Please Click Here to Order a Table for 8 - $1,200
Lodging:
Hotel Rooms for Oct 17 and 18 are $179 per night
Please Click Here to Reserve a Room
Details:
HORS D’OEUVRES and Cash Bar at 6:30 PM
Three-Course Dinner at 7:30 PM
The 3 entrée choices are:
Roasted New York Sirloin -
Sliced Sirloin, Demi-Glace, Potato Provencale
Chicken Francaise -
Boneless Chicken Breast Sauteed with Parmesan Lemon Butter Sauce, Vegetable Rice Pilaf
Oven Roasted Vegetable Strudel -
Seasonal Herbed Vegetables Wrapped in Phyllo, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, Herbed Couscous
The program will announce and include an awards presentation recognizing both the top honor and the runner-up. The Martin Book Prize winner will deliver an address, followed by an opportunity for audience questions. The program will feature tributes from family and friends who cherished Jim and his lasting influence.
About James Kirby Martin
“Historians have debated and argued about the causes of the American Revolution for nearly two centuries.” Jim Martin wrote this in 1973 as the first line of the preface to his first book, Men in Rebellion. “More properly, perhaps,” he continued, “students of the Revolution have sought to identify and explain . . . the reasons why provincial Americans, nurtured for over a century and a half under the seemingly benevolent guidance of Great Britain, threw off attachments to British sovereignty.” Of course it is now two and a half centuries since the Revolution changed the course of world history, but Jim’s observation remains every bit as germane to historians today. He spent a career pursuing those very questions.
His career was indeed distinguished. His interest in the Revolution emerged during his undergraduate years at Hiram College and sharpened in his doctoral studies under Merrill Jensen at the University of Wisconsin. He moved through the ranks from assistant professor to professor at Rutgers University, where he also served as vice president for academic affairs before moving to the University of Houston. There he completed his teaching career as Hugh Roy and Lilli Cranz Cullen University Professor of History. As a scholar, he was formidable. The author, co-author, or editor of a dozen books and scores of articles, chapters and papers, Jim’s work derived from rigorous scholarship. He believed in evidence—the primary sources—and interpretations based on solid foundations; he had little patience for academic fads and history driven by ideological zealotry or preconceived conclusions. Americans have so often looked at the Revolution through the lens of modern groups or political agendas, but Jim Martin insisted that an honest effort to understand the past compelled the historian to search for the perspectives of those who actually confronted events—not knowing what the future held. He was an honest historian.
Jim’s interests in the Revolution were expansive, and titles such as Men in Rebellion, A Respectable Army, Forgotten Allies, Citizen Soldier, and Benedict Arnold have stood the test of time and established his reputation as an authority on the military and political aspects of the revolutionary struggle. His work has won several important awards. The academy seldom produces historians who do so much so well. It was this consistent performance that saw him receive a senior fellowship at the Smith National Library at Mount Vernon and prestigious visiting professorships at The Citadel and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Martin was a generous and engaging individual. He enjoyed collaborating with other scholars and over the years he worked with some of the best in the profession. He delighted in taking history beyond the academy, and over the years Jim gave his time to board memberships and advisory roles at Fort Ticonderoga, the Fort Plain Museum, and the Oneida Indian Nation. He presented frequently before learned societies and was a riveting speaker, but he took special pleasure in speaking to local historical organizations and such groups as the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the Society of the Cincinnati, the DAR, and the SAR (of which he was a proud member). Jim even had a “starring role” as Colonel Moses Hazen in the film Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed. He was nothing if not versatile.
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POSTED 09/06/2025
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