Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography - Hardcover

Sisman, Adam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297852140 ISBN 13: 9780297852148

Publisher: W&N, 2010

Synopsis

Hugh Trevor-Roper's life is a rich subject for a biography - with elements of Greek tragedy, comedy and moments of high farce. Clever, witty and sophisticated, Trevor-Roper was the most brilliant historian of his generation. Until his downfall, he seemed to have everything: wealth and connections, a chair at Oxford, a beautiful country house, an aristocratic wife, and, eventually, a title of his own. Eloquent and versatile, fearless and formidable, he moved easily between Oxford and London, between the dreaming spires of scholarship and the jostling corridors of power. He developed a lucid prose style which he used to deadly effect. He was notorious for his acerbic attacks on other historians, but ultimately tainted his own reputation with a catastrophic error when he authenticated the forged 'Hitler Diaries'.

Adam Sisman sheds new light on this fascinating and dramatic episode, but also shows that there was much more to Hugh Trevor-Roper's career than the fiasco of the Hitler Diaries hoax that became his epitaph. From wartime code-breaking to grilling Nazis while the trail was still fresh in 1945 (and finding Hitler's will buried inside a bottle), to his wide-ranging interests, his snobbery and his malice, his formidable post-war feuds with Evelyn Waugh, Tawney, Toynbee, Taylor and many others, and his secret and passionate affair with an older, married woman. A study in both success and failure, Adam Sisman's biography is a revealing and personal story of a remarkable life.

About this title

Review:

Selected in January as one of a dozen "Hottest Books" of the forthcoming year (SUNDAY TIMES)

richly rewarding on every level (Selina Hastings THE INDEPENDENT)

Sisman tells the story of Trevor-Roper with authority and relish..a perfect biography (Robert Harris SUNDAY TIMES)

detailed, judicious and entertaining, a great treat for those of us who enjoy bitchy don anecdotes (David Sexton EVENING STANDARD)

a fascinating biography, which deserves parity of esteem with Leslie Mitchell's Maurice Bowra (Eric Christiansen THE SPECTATOR)

This is an excellent biography.. beautifully written and admiringly presented (Anthony Howard NEW STATESMAN)

How lucky for Trevor-Roper, and for us, that the ideal biographer was here. It is impossible to praise Sisman's book too highly (A N Wilson THE OBSERVER)

Sisman provides a gripping narrative of how Trevor-Roper came to authenticate Hitler Diaries..This biography is bursting with similarly compelling episodes from Trevor-Roper's life (Tristram Hunt DAILY TELEGRAPH)

wonderfully complete and beautifully crafted (Craig Brown MAIL ON SUNDAY)

Excellent.. such a man makes a good story (Charles Moore DAILY TELEGRAPH)

Book Description:

The first biography of the great historian whose career was made and unmade by Hitler.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0297852140
• ISBN 13: 9780297852148
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 624