G. M. Trevelyan: A Life in History - Hardcover

Cannadine, D

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039303528X ISBN 13: 9780393035285

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993

Synopsis

"During the first half of the twentieth century Trevelyan was the most famous, the most honored, the most influential and the most widely read historian of his generation. He was a scion of the greatest historical dynasty that [Britain] has ever produced. He knew and corresponded with many of the greatest figures of his time....For fifty years, Trevelyan acted as a public moralist, public teacher and public benefactor, wielding unchallenged cultural authority among the governing and the educated classes of his day."
So David Cannadine writes in the Preface to his life of Trevelyan. Described by a contemporary as "probably the most widely read historian in the world; perhaps in the history of the world," Trevelyan fired the imaginations of millions of readers with his stirring books on Garibaldi, his magisterial history of England, and his vivid English Social history. Trevelyan's broad appeal lay in the lyrical beauty of his prose and in his moral purpose to make sense of the past and show in it the unfolding progress of mankind.
Trevelyan's optimism and secure cultural bearings, sorely tested in his own time by two world wars, speak of a lost way of life. He was a member by birth of the aristocracies of privilege and intellect, a man who "never applied for a job he did not get; indeed, apart from his Trinity Fellowship, he never applied for a job at all." He was at home in the circles of high politics during the period from the First World War into the age of Churchill. And yet the churning social and cultural currents of the postwar years would erode the peak of influence Trevelyan had attained, creating a far different intellectual landscape.
Cannadine, whose great theme is the decline of a self-confident, aristocratic, imperial Britain, continues that story here with the focus on Trevelyan, the aristocratic Whig historian so powerful and popular in his time and now so tellingly out of favor. Cannadine goes on trenchantly but not uncritically to defend Trevelyan's view of history and the ends of historical study: The author sees in his writing a humanity which our contemporaries so often lack.

About this title

Product Description:

This mint, First Edition, 1st print, HARDBACK, Norton & Co., New York, has a mint, unclipped dust jacket that is now protected in an extra, bespoke acid-free, clear, slipcover. The cover has sang-de-boeuf boards with a black cloth spine and gilt lettering to the spine. The book size is 6.25Ó w x 9.5Ó h with 10 illustrations, notes, an index and 288 pristine pages on high quality paper. ISBN 039303528X.

From the Back Cover:

When G.M. Trevelyan’s un-self-revealing autobiography was published in 1949, he was described by one of his contemporaries as ‘probably the most widely read historian in the world; perhaps in the history of the world’. His famous books on England under Queen Anne, his 'History of England' and his 'English Social History', fired the imaginations of millions all over the world, especially in Britain. ‘ In his power to recreate the past, and to inspire in others the passion to explore it further’, writes David Cannadine, ‘he had no equal in his day, and has had no equal since.’ Cannadine’s spirited study of this fascinating man makes a significant contribution to the political and cultural history of Britain in the ages of Asquith, Baldwin, and Churchill; it is also a subtle threnody for a lost style and a lost way of life.

“A fine book, quite exceptionally well written, as elegant as it is vigorous”
NOEL ANNAN, 'Sunday Telegraph'

“This is no everyday biography, but an impressive exercise in intellectual revisionism.”
ROY FOSTER, 'Independent on Sunday'

“[Cannadine] has succeeded in making the life of a professional historian, dead these 30 years, both readable and relevant to those who know little about the craft or history and care less.”
GODFREY HODGSON, 'Independent'

“The man who brings brio to Clio, Cannadine’s vigorous expository manner means there is no danger of not being able to see the woods from the family trees.”
STEFAN COLLINI, 'Times Literary Supplement'

“Trevelyan deserved, as well as needed, this book and he could hardly have found a champion more eloquent, trenchant, and convincing”
PHILIP ZIEGLER, 'Daily Telegraph'

“David Cannadine’s characteristically spirited and combative study is more than just an intellectual biography: it is a work of piety, advocacy and passion”
JOSE HARRIS, 'London Review of Books'

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 039303528X
• ISBN 13: 9780393035285
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288