
A Question of Retribution?
The British Academy and the Matter of Anthony Blunt
David Cannadine(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 23. July 2020
Book
Hardback
130 pages
978-0-19-726678-6 (ISBN)
Description
Through a unique set of documents never before published, this volume revisits the public furore when, at its Annual General Meeting forty years ago, the British Academy chose not to expel from its Fellowship the eminent art historian, Professor Anthony Blunt, who had recently been exposed as a former Soviet spy.
The facsimile documents illustrate the intensely held views of leading academics as they wrestled with the question of whether considerations of pure scholarship could remain aloof from a revelation of political treachery. Also revealed is one faction's plot to stir up a public row through the national press - a tactic that was ultimately successful in achieving Blunt's resignation from the Academy.
Historian and current President of the British Academy, David Cannadine, provides the background to the Blunt story, and portrays some of the main characters: Kenneth Dover, the President at the time who struggled to steer the Academy through the crisis; the historian J.H. Plumb, who led the vicious campaign to see Blunt expelled; and A.J.P. Taylor, who was equally determined that the Academy should be willing to 'tolerate the intolerable'.
The facsimile documents illustrate the intensely held views of leading academics as they wrestled with the question of whether considerations of pure scholarship could remain aloof from a revelation of political treachery. Also revealed is one faction's plot to stir up a public row through the national press - a tactic that was ultimately successful in achieving Blunt's resignation from the Academy.
Historian and current President of the British Academy, David Cannadine, provides the background to the Blunt story, and portrays some of the main characters: Kenneth Dover, the President at the time who struggled to steer the Academy through the crisis; the historian J.H. Plumb, who led the vicious campaign to see Blunt expelled; and A.J.P. Taylor, who was equally determined that the Academy should be willing to 'tolerate the intolerable'.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
More than 30 B&W Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 302 mm
Width: 235 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
786 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-726678-6 (9780197266786)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sir David Cannadine is Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University, Visiting Professor at Oxford University, the Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the current President of the British Academy. His works include: The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy; G.M. Trevelyan: A Life in History; Class in Britain; Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy; and Victorious Century: The United Kingdom, 1800-1906.
Author
President of the British Academy & Dodge Professor of HistoryPresident of the British Academy & Dodge Professor of History, Teh British Academy & Princeton University
Content
Preface
Notes of the documents and sources
Prologue
Documentary narrative
Epilogue
Index of Fellows and Staff at the British Academy
General Index
Notes of the documents and sources
Prologue
Documentary narrative
Epilogue
Index of Fellows and Staff at the British Academy
General Index