Modern German history expert Gordon A. Craig dies at 91

Gordon A. Craig, one of the nation's most respected experts on modern German history, has died of heart failure. He was 91. Craig, a Stanford University professor and the prolific author of dozens of books, including the well-known "Germany" and "The Germans" died Oct. 30 at a Portola Valley nursing home, university officials said.

Craig was "the most distinguished historian of modern Germany in this country and possibly one of the greatest in the world," colleague Peter Stansky, a retired Stanford history professor, said in a statement.

The professor was a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, and a source of information on Germany for politicians and the news media.

The scholar, born in Glasgow, Scotland, was educated at Princeton University. He taught briefly at Yale and spent 20 years at Princeton before joining Stanford in 1961. His move played an important role in the university's development, officials said.

"He was among a handful of people in the late '50s and early '60s who ... helped elevate Stanford from a good local university to a great national university," said James Sheehan, the university's Dickason Professor in the Humanities.