Economic historian, democratic socialist, educator, and British labor party activist, R. H. Tawney touched many worlds. His life, too, spanned great distance and change. When he was born in Calcutta in 1880, Gladstone, Tennyson, and Queen Victoria were flourishing and the British Empire was approaching its height. By the time of his death in 1962, the Empire had shrunk to a few tourist islands, and socialism, once so shocking, was now commonplace.
Ross Terrill, in this absorbing first study of Tawney's thought, view his subject within three related contexts. The first is Tawney, the man. Terrill makes skillful use of unpublished material--the early diary, speech and lecture notes, letters, interviews with friends and associates--to tell the story of Tawney's life in relation to his times. Second is social democracy. Tawney was one of its most influential philosophers and prophets, and this book argues for the continuing validity of his socialism as a path between capitalism and communism. Third is British politics. From Edwardian liberal "consensus" to mid-century collectivist "consensus," Tawney's long career, often at odds with prefailing orthodoxies, offers a window on British political culture.
Four key ideas are found in Tawney's political thought: equality and the dispersion of power--the "shape of socialism"; function and citizenship--the "life of socialism." These ideas, and indeed the life of the man himself, Terrill believes, are summed up in socialism as fellowship. "As long as men are men," Tawney said, "a poor society cannot be too poor to find a right order of life, nor a rich society too rich to have need to seek it."
This book is a blend of biography, history, and the study of political ideas. It provides a striking portrait of a remarkable man and a panorama of changing ideas and situations in the society where he tried to realize his socialist vision. It offers many glimpses of Tawney's associates, among them Beveridge, the Webbs, Laski, A. P. Wadsworth, Temple, Margaret Cole, and Leonard Woolf; and suprising snippets, like the fact that Tawney used the phrase "private affluence and public squalor" in 1919.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. Biography of this economic historian, teacher, and Labor Party activist, born in 1880. Hardcover in jacket as pictured. Light wear to book; jacket lightly worn with small nick to spine. Text clean; x, 373 pages; index, notes, bibliography of Tawney's works. Size: Octavo. Seller Inventory # t1230
Book Description hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1973 Harvard 1st edition hardcover, dustjacket is different than amazon shows, Fine-/VG+ DJ in Mylar, dustjacket has short tear & creases at top edge of rear panel, in new Mylar, clean & bright, name in corner of endpaper is only marking found, sound binding & firm corners. Seller Inventory # i26
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Torn/worn dj. Good hardcover with some shelfwear; may have previous owner's name inside. Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # mon0000128549
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: very good. 1st. Bound in the publisher's original cloth covered boards, spine stamped in black. Dust jacket is rubbed at the edges and extremities. Seller Inventory # 9023346
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First edition. Light bumping at the corners and an abrasion on the title page else fine in near fine dustwrapper with a tear at the crown. Seller Inventory # 104938
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Seller Inventory # 55823
Book Description Hb with Dj. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. The first study of R H Tawney, the economic historian, democratic socialist, educator and British Labour Party activist, 1880-1962. Includes Index, Notes and a comprehensive Bibliography of the published writings of Tawney inc books, pamphlets and hundreds of articles. Illustrated with many b/w photographs. The author has written a dedication to someone whose name is illegible but to whom Terrill expresses "fond affection and admiration", o/w interior perfectly clean. Scarlet cloth with barely a hint of age or wear. Black print to spine. White dj with black and red and a drawing of Tawney to front panel. Does show its age being a little grubby and scuffed along top edge. All profits to Amnesty International. Size: 15.5cm - 24cm with (x) 373pp. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 008162
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Ex-library copy with usual markings. Seller Inventory # mon0003088766
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. Hbk 373pp an unread copy excellent clean tight unmarked in sleeve-protected dj as new. Seller Inventory # ST89