--- description: Celebrated historical fiction author E.L. Doctorow died on Tuesday from complications from lung cancer, his son said. title: E.L. Doctorow, Master of Historical Fiction, Dies at 84 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff2c20f61fd5fe85/69885bdd0b72e36f476e5050/el-doctorow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # E.L. Doctorow, Master of Historical Fiction, Dies at 84  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 1:00 AM CUT  National Book Award finalist E.L.Doctorow poses for photos before the award ceremonies in New York, November 16, 2005 National Book Award finalist E.L.Doctorow poses for photos before the award ceremonies in New York, November 16, 2005Henny Ray Abrams—AP  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 1:00 AM CUT E.L. Doctorow, the celebrated American author of historical novels including _Ragtime_ and _The March_, died on Tuesday in New York City. He was 84. Doctorow’s son, Richard, said the cause of death was complications from lung cancer, the New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/books/el-doctorow-author-of-historical-fiction-dies-at-84.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined"). Published in 1975, _Ragtime_ followed three families over the course of the early 20th century as they lived their daily lives, often interacting briefly with famous Americans. It was included on a list of 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library in 1999 and on a list of the [100 greatest English-language novels since 1923](http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/ragtime-1975-by-e-l-doctorow/ "undefined") by TIME magazine in 2010. [Read more at the _Times_.](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/books/el-doctorow-author-of-historical-fiction-dies-at-84.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3967046/el-doctorow-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3967046/el-doctorow-dies/"},"headline":"E.L. Doctorow, Master of Historical Fiction, Dies at 84","datePublished":"2015-07-22T01:00:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:27:22.996Z","description":"The cause was complications from lung cancer, his son said","url":"https://time.com/3967046/el-doctorow-dies/","keywords":["Books","obituary","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff2c20f61fd5fe85/69885bdd0b72e36f476e5050/el-doctorow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff2c20f61fd5fe85/69885bdd0b72e36f476e5050/el-doctorow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"e.l. doctorow","caption":"e.l. doctorow","creditText":"Henny Ray Abrams—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3967046/el-doctorow-dies/","name":"E.L. Doctorow, Master of Historical Fiction, Dies at 84"}}]}] ```