Arnold J. Toynbee: A Life - Softcover

McNeill, William H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597406406 ISBN 13: 9781597406406

Publisher: ACLS Humanities E-Book, 2008

Synopsis

Arnold Toynbee was one of the most remarkable thinkers of the 20th century, a man of far-reaching imagination, extraordinary erudition, and an infinite capacity for hard work. At the height of his fame, he was the most renowned scholar in the world, acclaimed as the author of the monumental, 10-volume A Study of History. Indeed, such was the regard for his Study that Time magazine, in a cover article on Toynbee published in 1947, declared that he had found history Ptolemaic and left it Copernican.
In Arnold Toynbee: A Life, William H. McNeill weaves together Toynbee's intellectual accomplishments and the personal difficulties of his private life, providing both an intimate portrait of a leading thinker and a judicious evaluation of Toynbee's work and his legacy for the study of history. McNeill illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of A Study of History as well as the countless other works penned by this prolific writer, examining the responses of other historians (including the devastating attack mounted by Hugh Trevor Roper) and Toynbee's attempts to modify his Study to answer these criticisms. And McNeill also examines Toynbee's tormented personal life, including his troubled marriage to Rosalind Murray (the daughter of Gilbert Murray), and the suicide of his son Anthony. What emerges is both poignant and thought-provoking, a biography and a commentary about how history is written and how it should be pursued.
William McNeill is one of America's most eminent historians, the winner of a National Book Award in 1964 for The Rise of the West, which The New York Times Book Review called the most learned...the most intelligent...the most stimulating and fascinating bookthat has ever set out to recount and explain the whole history of the world. In this sympathetic portrait of a life both triumphant and troubled, McNeill brings his skills to bear on one of the greatest figures in his field, illuminating a career of rare accomplishment.

About this title

About the Author

William H. McNeill (1917 2016) was emeritus professor of history at the University of Chicago. He is best known for The Rise of the West which won the National Book Award for history and biography in 1963.

From Publishers Weekly

During the 1950s, Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889-1975) was perhaps the world's best-known living historian; his crowning achievement was the Study of History , which in condensed form became a bestseller. As this sympathetic critical biography shows, Toynbee was a man of many contradictions: he favored a U.N. but believed peace was more likely to be achieved under a world empire. Although his global and prophetic vision was widely and vigorously attacked, Toynbee continued his scholarly activities and in lectures cast doubt on the viability of democracy, reproached Americans for their affluence, endorsed revolutions in Latin America and deplored Christianity's arrogance and intolerance. A shy man, with an almost pathological fear of running out of money, Toynbee endured the suicide of his son Anthony and saw his last years marred by difficulties with his first wife and his oldest son, Philip. According to McNeill ( Rise of the West ), Toynbee extended knowledge beyond the limits set by other historians, but his work is poetic in essence and ought to be evaluated as such. By weaving together Toynbee's thought and times this clear-sighted book may help restore the historian's reputation. Photos.
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About this edition

• Publisher: ACLS Humanities E-Book
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1597406406
• ISBN 13: 9781597406406
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 356