Daniel Aaron was born on 4 August 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is known for The Civil War (1990). He was married to Janet Summers. He died on 30 April 2016 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
He was on the English faculty of Smith College for 30 years. He also taught at Harvard. During WWII shortages of manpower, he worked on a farm and as a volunteer police officer. He also pitched for a softball team.