Michael L. Wallace ’64, GSAS’73, Historian and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author

Michael L. Wallace ’64, GSAS’73, a prominent historian who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, died on July 5, 2026, in Mexico City. He was 83.

Wallace’s account of NYC, from its brothels to sewers, is regarded by many as the most authoritative history of the city ever written. After co-writing the first book with fellow historian Edwin G. Burrows in 1998, he authored two sequels: Greater Gotham: A History of New York City From 1898 to 1919 (2017) and Gotham at War: A History of New York City From 1933 to 1945 (2025).

Profiled in CCT’s Winter 2020–21 issue as “The Guru of Gotham,” Wallace, who used the first name “Mike” in his byline, was in the middle of research for his last volume as the Covid-19 pandemic persisted. With that context, he discussed his perspective as the city faced what seemed like an apocalyptic crisis.

“History doesn’t guarantee anything, so the fact that we have pulled out of this crisis or that crisis — and gone on to bigger and better — doesn’t guarantee it will happen again. But my default position is that New York will bounce back,” he said.

Wallace was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 22, 1942. His family moved to San Francisco the following year, and in 1949 returned to New York City. Wallace graduated from Great Neck North H.S. and entered the College on the pre-med track but took a hard left into history after almost failing organic chemistry. He eventually earned a master’s and a Ph.D., both in history and from GSAS, in 1966 and 1973, respectively. Wallace took part in Columbia’s Spring 1968 protests as part of the strike coordinating committee, an experience he said shaped his perspective as he examined the past from the lens of marginalized identities.

Wallace began teaching at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 1971. He also co-founded the Radical History Forum in 1973. He and Burrows were awarded the grant that kickstarted their work on Gotham in 1976, which culminated in the book’s publication in 1998 to coincide with the centennial of Greater New York. Wallace also engaged the public in history, advising filmmaker Ric Burns ’78 on his eight-part PBS series New York: A Documentary Film and founding the Gotham Center for New York City History at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2000. Following the 9-11 attacks, he published A New Deal for New York (2002).

In all, Wallace’s Gotham titles amounted to more than 3,500 pages. In his interview with CCT, Wallace emphasized that it was not the awards and accolades that he was proudest of, but the fact that so many people had enjoyed reading a history book.

“That’s the indispensable criteria,” Wallace said. “If you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to remember it. You’re not going to finish it. You’re not going to believe it.”

Wallace is survived by his wife, Carmen Boullosa, whom he married in 2005; and sister, Penny. His marriages to Nancy Greenough, Elizabeth Fee and Hope Cooke ended in divorce.