Celebrated Historian Tony Judt Dies at 62

Tony Judt, a New York University professor, a leading historian of postwar Europe, and the author of the acclaimed Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, has died. Judt died from complications due to Lou Gehrig's disease, which he wrote about in his later years. The New Yorker's Louis Menand had referred to Judt's writing and vision as "virtually superhuman," and his Postwar book—a Pulitzer finalist—was widely regarded as a seminal piece of historical writing, having once been called "perhaps the most astonishing feat of synthesis ever achieved." Judt had written nine books and was a prolific essayist, contributing often to The New York Review of Books. He is survived by his wife, dance critic Jennifer Homans, and their two children, Nicholas and Daniel.