Thanks to those who join with me in mourning our friend, mentor, and
inspiration, Al Young.

I wrote the following, which only touches the surface, this morning for
the editor's page of the *Journal of the Early Republic*:

At press time we also learned of the death of our friend, mentor and
colleague Alfred F. Young. No one had a more salutary influence the
historiography of the Revolution and early republic during the past
half-century – through his writings, of course, from *The
Democratic-Republicans of New York *(1967) to *The Shoemaker and the Tea
Party* (1999), *Masquerade* (2004) and anthologies like *Dissent* (1968),
*The American Revolution* (1976), *Beyond the American Revolution* (1993)
and *Revolutionary Founders* (2011) but just as much through his remarkable
patience and rigor in response to others’ work and his inspiring ability to
connect historians across professional and even political divides. He was,
profoundly, an organizer, as well as a craftsman who relished in the social
and collaborative as well as archival and writerly aspects of the
historian’s labors. A letter or email from Al was like a gift: a
combination of purpose and concern, gentle prodding mixed with careful
praise, useful news and mild self-criticism. As a colleague and friend as
much as historian, he excelled at putting himself in another’s shoes. He
combined the best of his origins and training while staying always on guard
for creeping pretension, pride, illogic or ill humor. While he identified
himself as an outsider, he kept all lines of communication open, and was
always as generous and friendly with younger scholars as with his old
friends. We can only hope to see his like again.

David Waldstreicher

Humanities & Social
Sciences Online

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