E.H.Carr: A Critical Appraisal

Michael Cox is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and editor of the Review of International Studies. His most recent publications include US Foreign Policy After the Cold War (1995), Rethinking the Soviet Collapse (1998) with K.Booth and T.Dunne, and The Eighty Years' Crisis: International Relations 1919-1999 (1998).

'By situating Carr's book historically so well...Cox et al have provided the strongest argument yet for leaving What is History? on the shelf as a theory-of-history primer for undergraduates.' - Simon Ditchfield, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Michael Cox's book gives a splendid opportunity to see the relevance of E.H. Carr's historical mode of thought: it leads the reader into the complexity of his ideas and leaves them with the challenge to take it a stage further in an analysis of the present...a particularly appropriate time for a reappraisal of his work...' - Robert Cox, Emeritus Professor, York University, Canada 'This fine collection makes a strong case for Carr's importance without seeking to gloss over the problems associated with his work. Moreover, the scale of the enterprise allows Michael Cox and his contributors to do full justice to all the various aspects of Carr's scholarship...This is a book that deserves a very wide readership.' - Chris Brown, London School of Economics and Political Science 'Michael Cox and his fellow contributors have produced an excellent critical study of E.H. Carr - one of the most interesting and controversial scholars of the twentieth century whose numerous writings provide a unique and important interpretation of that troubled era.' - Robert Gilpin, Princeton University 'The field of international relations has waited far too long for a critical reassessment of E.H. Carr, who emerges in these highly readable pages as a more complex, ambiguous and difficult figure than perhaps many of us had hitherto realized. The study of international relations will undoubtedly be enriched by his return.' - Justin Rosenberg, University of Sussex 'This is a fantastic array of appraisals of E.H. Carr that do full justice to his multifaceted and elusive achievement, fully acknowledging his towering presence in international relations, history and the study of the former Soviet Union...' - Richard Falk, Princeton University 'Clearly, as this volume shows, Carr's own intellectual and personal life is uniquely rich...Cox has assembled a variety of scholars to allow for a comprehensive assessment of Carr's intellectual biography...this variety makes the book a fascinating read in these days of specialized existence.' - Stefano Guzzini, MILLENNIUM 'Michael Cox's splendid 'critical appraisal' brings together fifteen experts who assess Carr's writings on Russian history, on the nature of historiography and on the science of international politics, as well as his involvement in foreign policy as a diplomat, as Times leader-writer, and the author of several powerful polemical tracts...[it] provides insights into many aspects of the personal and intellectual history of this fascinating individual.' - Roger Morgan, Government and Opposition 'Professor Cox's volume does very good justice to a man of enormous intellectual range...[his] collection is timely...To my mind this is an early and telling engagement with the complexities of what historians do. It is this that makes Carr still worthy of collections such as Professor Cox's...I would warmly recommend all historians who care about historical thinking and practice to read this collection.' - Alun Munslow, Reviews in History 'Michael Cox's book comes now as a fitting tribute to Carr, who died in 1982 - fitting insofar as it is a critical appraisal... [it] provides the elements with which to contemplate the complexity of Carr the man and Carr the historian.' - International Relations

• Acknowledgements Foreword; J.Carr Notes on the Contributors An Autobiography; E.H.Carr Introduction: E.H.Carr: A Critical Reassessment; M.Cox LIFE AND TIMES E.H. Carr's Search for Meaning: 1892-1982; J.Haslam E.H. Carr - The Aberystwyth Years: 1936-47; B.Porter 'An Active Danger': E.H.Carr at The Times , 1940-46; C.Jones THE RUSSIAN QUESTION Carr's Changing Views of the Soviet Union; R.W.Davies The Soviet Carr; S.White E.H. Carr and Isaac Deutscher: A Very 'Special Relationship'; M.Cox E.H. Carr, the Cold War and the Soviet Union; H.Ticktin INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Carr and his Early Critics: Responses to The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1939-1946; P.Wilson E.H. Carr and the Quest for Moral Revolution in International Relations; P.Rich Theories as Weapons: E.H.Carr and International Relations; T.Dunne E.H. Carr, Nationalism and the Future of the Sovereign State; A.Linklater Reason and Romance: The Place of Revolution in the Works of E.H. Carr; F.Halliday WHAT IS HISTORY? The Lessons of What isHistory? A.Stephanson An English Myth? Rethinking the Contemporary Value of What is History?; K.Jenkins E.H. Carr and the Historical Mode of Thought; R.Germain Appendix 1: E.H. Carr: Chronology of his Life and Work 1892-1982 Appendix 2: Papers of E.H. Carr, 1892-1982: Historian Index