Arthur John Langguth ( July 11 , 1933 – September 1 , 2014 ) , known as A. J. Langguth , was an American author , journalist and educator , born in Minneapolis , Minnesota . He was Professor Emeritus of the Annenberg School for Communications School of Journalism at the University of Southern California . Langguth was the author of several dark , satirical novels , a biography of the English short story master Saki , and lively histories of the Trail of Tears , the American Revolution , the War of 1812 , Afro-Brazilian religion in Brazil and the United States , the Vietnam War , the political life of Julius Caesar and U.S. involvement with torture in Latin America . A graduate of Harvard College ( MA , 1955 ) , Langguth was South East Asian correspondent and Saigon bureau chief for '' The New York Times '' during the Vietnam war , using the byline " Jack Langguth " . He also wrote and reported for '' Look '' Magazine in Washington , DC and '' The Valley Times '' in Los Angeles , California . Langguth joined the journalism faculty at USC in 1976 . He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976 , and received the Freedom Forum Award , honoring the nation 's top journalism educators , in 2001 . He retired from active teaching at USC in 2003
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
A. J. Langguth