Alan Brinkley, scholar of liberalism, dead at 70

NEW YORK (AP) — Prize-winning historian Alan Brinkley, who traced the evolution of liberalism from the New Deal to the 21st century and was a popular commentator on culture and politics, has died. He was 70.

Brinkley died Sunday at his home in Manhattan. Daughter Elly Brinkley says he died of complications from a disease related to Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS.

A former professor at Columbia and Harvard, Alan Brinkley was the son of the late anchorman David Brinkley, and grew up in a home where guests included John F. Kennedy and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. He became a National Book Award winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and prominent author of two widely used American history textbooks.