Fish, Carl Russell, 1876-1932, American historian, b. Central Falls, R.I. From 1900 to his death he taught history at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Fish considered the Univ. of Wisconsin the "most democratic institution in America," and he was extremely popular there among both students and colleagues. He wrote The Civil Service and the Patronage (1904, repr. 1963); The Development of American Nationality (1913, rev. ed. 1940), a useful and popular textbook; American Diplomacy (1915, 5th ed. 1929); The Path of Empire ("Chronicles of America" series, 1919); The Rise of the Common Man, 1830-1850 ("History of American Life" Vol. VI, 1927, repr. 1971); and The American Civil War: An Interpretation (ed. by William E. Smith, 1937).