An Outline of Research Paper

On A. J. P. Taylor

Chapter I: Introduction

a. Thesis Statement – the first paragraph or the thesis statement will analyze in brief the

merits of Taylor as a historian. It will discuss how Taylor has become the subject for a

serious academic study, his way of making history for his own. Then the thesis statement in

given at the end of that paragraph.

b. Short Profile of Taylor- This profile of Taylor will try to sketch his life briefly which

starts from his birth in 1906 in England to the liberal parents. It looks into how his ideologies

are formed at an early age; how he turned into a pro-Russian; what kind of a child was he at

school etc. It will also try to analyze briefly his career as a lecturer, historian, and columnist.

c. Works of Taylor- This paragraph looks into the major historical contributions of Taylor

Which starts from The Italian Problems in European Diplomacy 1847-49 and goes through

some controversial works like The Troublemakers and The Origins of Second World War. I

do not try to mention all the works of Taylor because it will consume so many pages, only

some of the works will be mentioned.

d. Taylor’s TV Career – This paragraph will try to analyze Taylor as famous figure in

television and radio. The analysis starts from his beginning on the BBC show, The News. His

career as a TV person will be analyzed because it added much to his fame, and on many

occasions it made him a controversial figure.

e. The Nature of the Research Paper- This section will discuss how the work is progressed;

what the nature of analysis is; and whose views are included.

Chapter 1I:

As a whole, this chapter analyses the approach of Taylor to history and people, how he

became a history maker, and what are the major controversies that he was involved in.

a. Taylor’s Approach to History

This paragraph will analyze what was Taylor’s approach to history. This is very important in

the sense that this approach has distinguished Taylor from other historians. It will look into

his believes, or rather prejudices about history and history makers. His way of popularizing

history, looking at history from strange angles and his observation of great personalities also

is included.

b. Origins of Second World War- This paragraph will discuss his most controversial work,

The Origins of Second World War. What was Taylor’s controversial argument in the book

and how he tried to ‘white wash’ Hitler.

c. Taylor as a revisionist: This paragraph focuses on why he is been criticized as an old-

fashioned historian and why his style is been called as revisionist style.

d. Taylor as a controversial figure – This paragraph tries to look into the controversies

(both private and public) that he created throughout his life. It starts with his three marriages.

It discusses various contradictions that he made during his public life. His unholy and

sycophantic relation with Lord Beaverbrook and his selfishness of befriending politicians will

also be analyzed. His changing attitudes towards communism will be brought towards the end

of the paragraph.

Chapter III: History of the Historian

This chapter is the real flesh of the research paper. It presents A. J. P. Taylor as a man and

historian from the point of view of other writers. I will analyze the works of Kathleen Burk,

Chris Wrigley, H. Russesll Williams, Adam Sisman and Robert Cole about Taylor.

1. Kathleen Burk – This section tries to study the biography of Taylor, Troublemaker:

The Life and History of AJP Taylor, written by Kathleen Burk.

a. The first paragraph looks the authenticity of Burk’s biography to evaluate the life

and works of Taylor. It briefly discusses about the two previous life histories of

Taylor published.

b. It will look into how Burk’s biography is different from other’s, what are the main

interests of the book, and what picture of an immature Taylor that Kathleen gives.

c. The Merits of Taylor- Here, I will try to enumerate the positive things that

Kathleen says about Taylor. That may include both personal and professional

qualities. I will try to discuss which are the authorial achievements of Taylor

according to Kathleen.

d. Taylor as a Media man- Here, I will try to include the observations of Kathleen

on the Television career of Taylor.

e. Conclusion- The discussion of Kathleen’s opinions about Taylor will be

concluded.

2. Chris Wrigley – This section tries to analyze another work about Taylor, A.J. P.

Taylor Radical Historian of Europe written by Chris Wrigley.

a. Wrigley’s Discussions – The first paragraph of this portion analyses what Wrigley

discusses in his book. What is Wrigley opinion about Taylor becoming a lonely

wanderer and an outsider in academics? What are the sources used by Wrigley to

collect information.

b. Wrigley’s Analysis – This paragraph discussed what is Wrigley’s analysis of the

strengths and weaknesses of Taylor.

c. Ugly side of Taylor – This part analyses how Wrigley presents Taylor as an ugly

figure with lots of prejudices and bias. What are the adjectives he received from his

friends and colleagues?

d. Fair Side of Taylor – This part will look into how Wrigley presents Taylor as a

good human being.

e. Conclusion of Wrigley’s work

3. Russesll Williams – This section will discuss hoe Russell Williams had analyzed

Taylor through his article in Historians of Modern Europe.

a. What made Taylor a Controversial Figure- This section discusses the analysis

of Williams that people hate Taylor due to his popularity.

b. Taylor’s inconsistency – It discusses Taylor’s inconsistency in behaving or

reacting to various issues.

c. Works of Taylor- This paragraph will discuss how Williams divides the works of

Taylor into two sections and how he has studied them.

d. Conclusion - It concludes the discussion about the analysis of Williams on Taylor.

4. Adam Sisman- This section will analyze the observations of Adam Sisman, the first

biographer of Taylor.

5. Others – This section will discuss about other writers who have commented upon

Taylor that will include Cole, Carr etc.

Conclusion

A.J. P. Taylor:

A Historian and a History Maker

Chapter I

Introduction

Alan John Percivale Taylor can be called undoubtedly the most celebrated and discussed

historian of the twentieth century. His methodically written revisionist studies about

nineteenth century and twentieth century events gave the branch of academic history a new

dimension and new popularity that it has never been achieved before. Apart from a writer of

history, the approach of Taylor to history, historians and great figures of history was more

than enough to make history of its own kind. His aggressiveness and radical style of

analyzing history has led him into many controversies. The aim of this paper is to analyze

and evaluate Taylor as seen by other historians.

A.J.P. Taylor was born in March, 1906 in Lanchshire, England, and was the only surviving

child of the politically liberal parents. During his childhood itself, he was an intelligent child,

and started reading books, especially historical novels. From the early period itself, he

showed signs of sympathy to Russia and Communism, which he maintained during the

beginning of his career. The Downs School headmaster’s account says that he was a

rebellious boy during his school days. After the schooling, Taylor received a scholarship

from Oriel College, Oxford, where he was a supporter of Communist Party. Even though he

passed his honors with first class, he was not certain about his career. After an initial

confusion, he started his career as a lecture in Manchester University. Then, he actively

participated in trade union politics, and thereby developed the skill of public speaking. Then,

he started his part-time career as journalist by writing columns for the Manchester Guardian.

Throughout his career he lectured in various universities on history and international affairs.

Even though he was a communist supporter in the beginning, he was dissatisfied with the

party in its ineffective stand in the General Strike in 1926. The rest of his life, he remained a

staunch supporter of Labour Party. Apart from writing columns in the Manchester Guardian,

he wrote columns and reviews for Observer, the Daily Express, and various other magazines.

He published his first book, The Italian Problems in European Diplomacy 1847-49 in 1934.

Another work The Course of German History (1945), an analysis of Weimar Germany,

became the best seller of the year. A detailed diplomatic history, The Struggle for Mastery in

Europe 1848-1918(1954), helped Taylor to establish his reputation as an academic historian.

Then, three years later, he produced a critical study of British foreign policy, The Trouble

Makers. In 1961, he published his most controversial work, The Origins of the Second World

War, which gave him the name ‘a revisionist’. He wrote a number of books on history

including From Napoleon to the Second International: Essays on Nineteenth-century Europe,

The Second World War: an Illustrated History and Germany's First Bid for Colonies 1884–

1885: a Move in Bismarck's European Policy.

Taylor can be regarded as pioneer among television historians. He started his career as a

panelist on a BBC show, The News in 1950. Then he appeared on ITV’s program, Free

Speech, and a Lecture Series in the same channel. The most amazing factor with his lectures

was that he made the speeches without notes. All his programs were huge hits of that time.

He appeared on TV in the late 80s even when he was affected by Parkinson’s disease. He

died in September 1990 in London.

When we tend to analyze the life and works of AJP Taylor, it will be incomplete without

mentioning his style of approaching history and his way of presenting historical events to the

readers. As he lived his life as a controversial figure, and as a history maker, I tried to discuss

some of the major controversies that he was involved in. Then the discussion progresses to

how other historians viewed Taylor as a man and as a historians. Their analyses of his works

also are included in the study.

Chapter II

Taylor: A Trouble Maker

Even though an academician par excellence, the way Taylor approached history was in a

popular and, rather, a silly manner. He says: "I am not a philosophic historian. I have no

system, no moral interpretation. I write to clear my mind, to discover how things happened

and how men behaved. If the result is shocking or provocative, this is not from intent...."

1Thus he is considered by many as people’s historian. He believed that history is always

created by stupid figures than genius figures. His histories were a mixture of information and

entertainment for the people, because he was fond of using irony and humor in his comments.

His famous observation about Benito Mussolini goes like this: “Fascism was little more than

terrorist rule by corrupt gangsters. Mussolini was not corrupt himself but he did nothing

except to rage impotently." 2 He examined history from strange angles and was fond of

revealing the pomposities of major historical personalities. Thus, his style is been called as

‘Tylorism’, which emerged as a synonym for witty repartee in history. His continuous

appearance on radio and television is an example of his way of introducing history to

everyone.

Further more he is famous for his unorthodox and insightful views that he presented through

his book The Origins of the Second World War, which is full of such controversial views

which invited much criticism even from his friends and fellow historians. Taylor strongly

argued against the general notion that Second World War was Hitler’s plan. He criticized the

leaders of other states for the Second World War by saying that all are shielded by the

famous ‘Nuremberg Thesis’ that Hitler and his associates conspired the war. He tried to

1 Russell H. Williams, Historians of Modern Europe. Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 94.

2The Observer. 1982.

depict Hitler just as a “normal leader” 3as opposed to the widespread notion about him as a

demonic figure. Taylor argued that Hitler’s intention was only to make German a great

power, and Second World War was only an accident, which was the result of the

miscalculations of many leaders. Moreover, Taylor was the first historian to argue that Treaty

of Versailles was one of the major causes for the Second World War. The Origins of the

Second World War and his revisionist style gave rise to a series of controversies in Europe.

He was criticized as old-fashioned historian, because his style was narrative compared to

analytical history written by others. Moreover, his concerns fell upon political and diplomatic

than economic and social affairs. Gertrude Himmelfarb comments that “this radical view

gave rise to a new revisionist movement among historians, who wrote historical accounts in

accordance with their ideological predispositions”4.

Taylor was a controversial figure throughout his life. Both in private and public life, he was a

heap of oddities. He lived with his first wife while marrying for the second time and third

time. He tolerated his first wife’s affair with Dylan Thomas. He was a man obsessed with

money, and social and academic distinctions that he scorned in public. He always professed

about his unending love for the North of England where he was born and brought up, but he

fled to London and Oxford even at the first opportunity. While he considered himself as “man

of the people”5, others considered him as an opportunist. Critics think that he made Lord

Beaverbrook his friend and wrote his biography only with a selfish motif. Taylor enjoyed the

company of politicians who possessed power. He often demeaned himself to the level of a

sycophant when he described Labour Party leader Michael Foot as “the greatest Prime

3 A. J. P Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War. 1961.

4 Gertrude Himmelfarb, The National Interest, in encyclopedia High beam, 1994ed.

5 Adam Sisman, A. J. P. Taylor: A Biography. (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994).

Minister Britain never had”6. At one point, when Britain became an ally of Russia, he

supported war, but was rejoiced when he was exempted from war duty. This invited a heap of

criticism on him, but in autobiography he stated in the most apologetic way, “as I should have

made a poor soldier, I do not think there was anything to be ashamed about this.”7 His

affiliation to Soviet Russia and communism was so famous. Though he was never a

Communist, except for a short period of time, he always favored Communism. He argued

that “Anti-Communism causes more trouble in the world than ever Communism does or did.”

8 At first he was a believer in Communism, but later lost faith in Communism. Even then, he

never lost faith or interest in Soviet Russia, so he regarded himself as “Pro-Russian and anti-

Communist” 9

Chapter III

History of the Historian

One of the authentic works about Taylor is Kathleen Burk’s Troublemaker: The Life and

History of AJP Taylor. Kathy was one of the last post graduate students of Taylor, and it is

assumed that her work is more original due to the intimacy between Taylor and the

biographer. Originally an economic historian, she has changed her role to a biographer, and

did an excellent work on his life and works that helped Taylor to achieve a historical position

among the historians of this century. After his autobiography, A Personal History (1983) and

Adam Sisman’s famous biography, A. J. P. Taylor: A Biography(1994), Burk’s biography is

the third life history of Taylor. His autobiography looked like an anecdote than an

autobiography and it was incomplete in many ways. In the autobiography he tries to reinstate

6 A.J. P Taylor. Revisionism. The orgins of the Second World War. [book on-line], (2007, accessed 5 December 2007); Available from http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/A_J_P_Taylor.html7; Internet.

7 A. J. P Taylor, A Personal History, 1983.

8 Gertrude Himmelfarb, The National Interest, in encyclopedia Highbeam, 1994ed.

9 A. J. P Taylor, A Personal History, 1983.

his righteousness in the controversies that he was involved. Moreover, the book left a big gap

in many places due to a threat from his second wife Eve.

Kathleen’s biography of Taylor was quite different from the previous two life histories of

Taylor. A thoroughly researched and independently conceived work, Troublemaker discusses

all the aspects of Taylor’s life in chronological order. The main interest of the book falls on

Taylor’s career as a historian and critical evaluation of his works. Few chapters describe his

development as a writer giving emphasis to the publication details and analysis of his works.

Then, in the analytical part Kathleen tries to present two Taylors in the beginning when he

arrived at Oxford. One with a trademark bow tie, in a sports car, going for grand dinners, and

a radical. The other side was more calm and quiet, a scholar in making, going to libraries

without anyone noticing. Kathy also mentions his secret ambition to become first

everywhere, so that he would always slip into the libraries so secretly, for he thought “that it

would be fatal to be seen to be working” 10

Kathleen writes that Taylor had an extra perceptive power of anticipating the developments

in the historical research. But at Oxford, he avoided research and spent most of his time in

teaching. He never liked to be called a doctor. Once he submitted a doctoral thesis at

Manchester, but refused to receive the PhD. He was a radical in thought and in profession.

His contemporaries refused to research on the nineteenth century regarding that period as too

recent to study. But Taylor’s first book, The Italian Problem in European Diplomacy 1847-

1849 (1934) broke all traditions. He once again proved himself to be an innovator by turning

his attention to the twentieth century through his most controversial Origins of the Second

World War (1961). This work and English History 1914 to 1945 (1965) are considered by

10 Kathleen Burk,. Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P. Taylor. [book on-line] (Yale University Press. New Haven and London, pp. 491+xiv, 2000, accessed 5 December 2007); Available from http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/addisonPaul.html; Internet.

Kathleen as pioneering attempts and seminal works which opened up a vista into the

contemporary period.

Kathleen considers Taylor as one of the first academic historians who used the possibilities of

journalism and media. A chapter in her book, ‘The Business History of the History Business’,

explores Taylor as a media figure. She observes that Taylor worked hard and built a

reputation as a foreign affairs expert and later jumped into a series of controversies by his

nature of expressing provocative opinions on almost all subjects. She also exposes a

commercially cunning Taylor who bargained with newspapers and broadcasters for his

contributions. She approximates that Taylor has earned around £ 1,900,000 as freelance

income during his lifetime. Kathy also presents a magician on television screen that went to

the studio without any preparation and lectured with a perfect timed ending.

But when turning to the personality of Taylor she almost agrees with Sisman. She writes:

He was basically indifferent to most people. He was conceited and self-righteous, self

absorbed and self-contained, insensitive and thoughtless…He did not like his mother and,

indeed, had little respect for her, and this appears to have colored his attitudes towards

women and resentful. 11

This view about Taylor has not taken to its complete sense by critics. Dr. Paul Addison asks:

“And if Taylor was selfish, what of his first wife, Margaret, who neglected the children and

ran after another man?” 12 He argues that, to an extent, Taylor has shown “patience and

generosity of a saint” 13 Burk’s detailed account of Taylor gives us the idea that he was surely

11 Kathleen Burk,. Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P. Taylor. [book on-line] (Yale University Press. New Haven and London, pp. 491+xiv. 2000, accessed 5 December 2007); Available from http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/addisonPaul.html; Internet.

12Kathleen Burk, 2000. Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P. Taylor. [book on-line] (Yale University Press. New Haven and London, pp. 491+xiv. 2000, accessed 5 December 2007) Available from http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/addisonPaul.html; Internet.

13 Ibid

a ‘troublemaker’ with his fame in the media, follies in private life, with his decision to speak

against cold war and nuclear bomb and his aggressiveness in public life.

Another work about Taylor is Chris Wrigley’s A.J. P. Taylor Radical Historian of Europe.

Wrigley tries to make a comprehensive analysis of Taylor’s works as well as the way the

historian and thinker in Taylor formed. He writes about Taylor’s wealthy radical parents, his

non-conformity, his pacifist Quaker schooling, and the effect of his mother’s extra-marital

affairs on Taylor, the son. Wrigley may be trying to convey that these early experiences had

made Taylor a psychologically lonely wanderer and an outsider forever in academics and

among the historians. Wrigley’s attempt is more objective than Kathleen’s or Sisman’s. He

found out many new sources to extract details. Taylor’s publishers, TV producers and

Historical Association secretaries helped Wrigley to create a wide and panoramic picture of

the real Taylor.

Wrigley tries to analyze the words of Taylor through his autobiography comparing it with

what he did in his life. He sees Taylor as a man with a lot of triumphs in life with fewer

defeats. Wrigley presents a painful incident in Taylor’s life when Richard Crossman severely

criticized Taylor for his biography of Beaverbrook. Wrigley evaluates the main books of

Taylor with the controversies surrounding them. He brilliantly traces the ideological

evolution of Taylor from a Victorian liberal ancestry to a Marxist and at last to Labor Party

supporter.

He never hesitates to present the ugly side of Taylor. Taylor talked about his mother as a

“bitch” 14

The reason for his problems with his wives was due to his low emotional IQ. He moped on

TV programs almost like a kid, even at 70. He was a prejudiced man in his personal views

14 A.J. P. Taylor. Radical Historian of Europe. Chris Wrigley I.B.Tauris. 256pp 25.

and historical comments. He was biased against Germans, but in 1939, he seemed happy to

hear that Germans attacked Poland. Wrigley goes on to examine the Taylor image before him

becoming a controversial figure. Before the Beaverbrook issues and Origins of the Second

World War, the review of his works were positive and encouraging. But after the publication

of the Origins, he started receiving numerous humiliating adjectives like troublemaker and

eternal dissident. A. P. Wardsworth, his friend and editor of Manchester Guardian called him

“brilliant and irresponsible”15, while his college Bruce MacFarlane gave him the qualification

“nihilist”.

On the other hand, Wrigley presents another Taylor with a lot of fair attributes. He was a

genial, generous, courageous and witty person to his loved ones. He was kind to his students

and sincere in encouraging youngsters. Wrigley praises the needle-sharp wit of Taylor. He

quotes some of the brilliant judgments made by Taylor: “The Cold War is here to stay. We

must hold on until Communism destroys itself”16.

Even though Wrigley did a hopeful attempt to portray the complex and ironic personality of

Taylor, he failed to look into some majors concerns regarding Taylor. He does not analyze

how Taylor became a pro-soviet even in his early childhood. He also fails to account Taylor’s

special way of approaching history. Norman Davies believes that “Taylor’s standing among

historians is not thoroughly explored”17. But it can be said that this thoroughly researched

work helps to understand Taylor more in a sympathetic, but objective way.

Another interesting analysis of Taylor is given by H. Russesll Williams in Historians of

Modern Europe. This is a neatly structured article which gives more importance to his works

15 A.J. P. Taylor. Radical Historian of Europe. Chris Wrigley I.B.Tauris. 256pp 25

16 A.J. P. Taylor. Radical Historian of Europe. Chris Wrigley I.B.Tauris. 256pp 25

17 Norman Davis, History today. A. J.P. Taylor: Radical Historian of Europe. (2007, accessed 5 December 2007); Available from http://www.questia.com/read/5021462225; Internet. 1

and views. Published in 1971, the work throws light into the small beginning and rapid

growth of a prophet historian. Williams tries to present a larger than life figure of Taylor in

his work. He agrees in the beginning of the essay that Taylor was disliked by the majority. He

attributes all the controversies that Taylor make to his certainty about things: “Certainty is not

granted to most people, and the incredulous majority naturally enough resent the fortunate

few who are free from nagging doubts.” 18Taylor’s refusal to hang around the prescribed laws

also made him a loathing figure in the world of scholars. Taylor became a topic for

discussion through out the houses and among academicians through his frequent appearances

on TV and his columns in journals including The Sunday Express. Williams conjectures that

this popularity, almost like a “Hollywood Image” 19might have created envy among other

academicians which slowly led to a feud against him. But the author admits that “Taylor’s

personal characteristics and mode of operation have added to the atmosphere of conflict”20.

In many occasions Taylor acted in the most unexpected way. The author recounts one

incident where Taylor said that he was happy in Manchester, still being a very successful

lecturer in Oxford. Everyone knows that Taylor held strong opinions and worked in

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. But once he gave an aggressively conservative speech

while addressing a party-line congress. All these incidents led to a widespread notion among

his critics that he consciously worked hard to make himself a shocker. Williams analyses his

profile and finds no reason for Taylor to be this much unorthodoxy in opinions and style.

18Russell H Williams, Historians of Modern Europe, Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 78

19 Russell H. Williams, Historians of Modern Europe, Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 79

20 Russell H Williams, Historians of Modern Europe. Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 79.

Williams then examines the development of his career from the Ford series, which he

“delivered in a lively, exciting style for which he was already well known at Oxford”21. Ford

Series gave him a reputation as a speaker, and it paved way for his entry into television. On

television, he raised as a popular star that changed the conventional notions about history

among the public. Within two years he raised from a historian to a television star.

Williams divides the works of Taylor into two categories; national history and diplomatic

history. National histories include The Habsburg Monarchy, 1815-1918; The Course of

German History and English History, 1914-1945 (1965). Even though the first and the third

are not controversial, The Course of German History aroused some ripples in the English-

speaking world. In the category of diplomatic histories include The Italian Problem in

European Diplomacy, 1847-1849, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1919, and the

most controversial The Origins of the Second World War. Williams feel that Taylor jumped

into troubles whenever he wrote about Germans. That was true in the case of German

History, his essay on German historian, Leopold Von Ranke, and of course in the Origins.

The Origins led him to a series of controversies including that with Trevor-Roper.

Williams considers Taylor as an advocate of individualism: “Perhaps the most persistent

principle found throughout his works is his advocacy of individualism.” Williams considers

him as an “anti universalist” also. His historical determination and moral interpretation of

history makes him different from other historians. His moral question also was a point of

departure. He tried to write history without moral judgment, and in many occasions he was

not successful in this pursuit.

Towards the end of his article, Williams feels short of words when he writes about the lucid

and at the same time fascinating works: “Some of his wit may fade with time, but the powers

21 Russell H. Williams, Historians of Modern Europe, Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 81

of narration should evoke admiration among future generations of students seeking effective

ways to organize and present their historical findings.”22

Adam Sisman published a proficient and detailed biography of Taylor in 1994, i.e. four years

after his death. That biography was based on thorough research and interviews with a number

of eye witnesses. Sisman’s biography was more or less a sympathetic approach to Taylor, and

he labeled Taylor a great historian and personally a complex human being. Sisman’s

consultation with Taylor’s friends and acquaintances reveals that Taylor was more or less a

sociable person. At the same time Taylor showed some severe weaknesses in his personality:

he was a self centered and prickly human being with a fierce spirit of competition. Sisman

believes that controversies are not a result of any propaganda against him, instead he madly

ran after them. He was a staunch radical with deep-rooted ideological base, which he used in

his campaign against ‘the Establishment’. But most paradoxically, he contradicted and

mocked himself by building a relationship with the right-wing nonconformist Beaverbrook

and Oswald Mosley. Sisman reveals the awful characteristic of Taylor craving for recognition

from the same ‘Establishment’ that he denounces. He would be irritated when recognition is

rejected. He deeply desired to get the Regius Chair of History at Oxford. Even though he

considered the matter very silly in public, he never exonerated those who denied him that

position. Sisman critically analyses his relations with women and his conclusion is that

Taylor was dangerously selfish with women, who tried to manipulate them for his needs.

Sisman has presented Taylor deprived of all his ornaments and hallows, and his brilliant

attempt hasn’t left any chance for other biographers to try on Taylor.

Besides these works mentioned in these paper, AJP Taylor is being interpreted and reviewed

through a number of books and articles. Robert Cole’s A. J.P. Taylor: The traitor Within the

22 Russell H. Williams, Historians of Modern Europe. Hans A. Schmitt. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 93

Gates is one among them. Cole’s account will be useful for any researcher. He makes pointed

views such as “no other book in Taylor’s bibliography more pointedly departed from the

concept of history as accident so often imputed to him, than did The course of German

Hstory.23. Other major works about Taylor are E. H. Carr’s History and Related Applications

and King’s Historical Principles Today.

Whatever reviews we search about Taylor we cannot turn the pages without reading the

writer mentioning about the controversies that Taylor made. When we look back, we can say

that A. J. P Taylor was the most influential and most popular historian of the twentieth

century. It is sure that he didn’t have wished anything more than becoming popular among

the mass. This was an attempt to analyze A. J. P. Taylor as person as well as a historian. I

used the opinions of several writers to create a realistic portrait of Taylor. But this study will

be incomplete without the personal statement of Taylor about himself from his autobiography

A Personal History:

I was born without ambition and this made the conventional rewards of life dust and ashes for

me or not even that. … I think I remained a good historian: careful about my sources, trying

to set down the truth as I saw it. I have never belonged to a school of history…. I am a plain

narrative historian and I hope I give the reader plenty of entertainment as well. For me

writing history has been Fun on a high academic level.24.

23 Robert Cole, A.J.P Taylor: The Traitor Within The Gates London: Macmillan, 1993. p84

24 A. J. P Taylor, 1983. A Personal History.

Bibliography

A.J. P Taylor. Revisionism. The orgins of the Second World War [book on-line], 2007, accessed 5 December 2007, Available from http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/A_J_P_Taylor.html; Internet.

A.J. P. Taylor. Radical Historian of Europe, Chris Wrigley I.B.Tauris, 256pp 25.

Burk, Kathleen. Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P. Taylor [book on-line], Yale University Press, New Haven and London, pp. 491+xiv. 2000, accessed 5 December 2007, Available from http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/addisonPaul.html; Internet.

Cole, Robert. A.J.P Taylor: The Traitor within The Gates. London: Macmillan, 1993.

Davis, Norman. History today. A. J.P. Taylor: Radical Historian of Europe [book on-line], 2007, accessed 5 December 2007, Available from http://www.questia.com/read/5021462225; Internet.

Sisman, Adam. A. J. P. Taylor: A Biography. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994.

Taylor, A. J. P. The Origins of the Second World War, 1961.

Taylor, A. J. P. A Personal History, 1983.

The Observer. 28 February 1982.

Williams, H. Russell., Historians of Modern Europe. Hans A. Schmitt. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1971.