John Willard Shy (March 23, 1931 – April 8, 2022)^[1][2][3] was a military historian and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan.^[4][5] Shy was part of a group of military historians who examined the interplay of the military, politics, and society in the colonial and revolutionary periods of American history.^[6]

Born in Ohio,^[1][2] Shy attended the United States Military Academy, graduating with a B.S. degree in the class of 1952.^[4] He received his M.A. degree in history from the University of Vermont in 1957.^[4] Shy graduated with his Ph.D. degree in history from Princeton University in 1961.^[4] His doctoral thesis was entitled The British army in North America, 1760-1775.^[7]

Shy was commissioned as a United States Army officer in 1952 and served on active duty until 1955. He transitioned to the Army Reserve and ultimately attained the rank of captain.^[1]

Shy became an associate professor at Princeton in 1959, an associate professor at Michigan in 1968 and a full professor there in 1971. He was a visiting professor at the United States Army War College from 1974 to 1975.^[2]

Shy specialized in the American Colonial and Revolutionary periods.^[4]

The University of Michigan presented him with the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award in 1994.^[8]

Shy received the Morison Prize from the Society for Military History in 2002.^[9]

Shy gave the 2008 George C. Marshall Lecture in Military History.^[10]

Shy lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan after his retirement and died in 2022.^[3]

• Paret, Peter, and John W. Shy. Guerrillas in the 1960s. New York: Published for the Center of International Studies, Princeton University, by Praeger, 1962. OCLC 275746
• Shy, John W. Toward Lexington; The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
• Shy, John W. A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. ISBN 0195020138
• Gilbert, Benjamin, and John W. Shy. Winding Down: The Revolutionary War Letters of Lieutenant Benjamin Gilbert of Massachusetts, 1780–1783: From His Original Manuscript Letterbook in the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan. [Ann Arbor]: University of Michigan Press, 1989. ISBN 0472101129