History and Biography Essays in Honour of Derek Beales

This is a collection of biographical essays by twelve eminent historians.

For too long, too many historians have been too much concerned with impersonal forces, underlying structures and long-term developments. Now, 'people' are back. In a post-modern age it is easier to appreciate the decisive role played by individuals, as they ride their luck and seize their opportunity to bend the world to their will. As these essays by twelve eminent historians demonstrate, biography is too important to be left to the amateurs. Among the rich variety of strong characters analysed here are an Austrian emperor, a German kaiser, a Victorian prime minister, an Italian dictator, and an American president. Dedicated to a master-biographer, Derek Beales, the range and quality of this collection will stimulate, inform and entertain everyone interested in the history of the modern world.

Introduction T. C. W. Blanning and David Cannadine; 1. Baron Bartenstein on Count Haugwitz's 'new system' of government P. G. M. Dickson; 2. The rise of the first minister in eighteenth-century Europe H. M. Scott; 3. An old but new biography of Leopold II T. C. W. Blanning; 4. John Marsh's History of My Private Life 1752–1828 John Brewer; 5. The gallows and Mr Peel Boyd Hilton; 6. Széchenyi and Austria R. J. W. Evans; 7. Past and future in the later career of Lord John Russell J. P. Parry; 8. Documentary falsification and Italian biography Denis Mack Smith; 9. Kaiser Wilhelm II and the British monarchy David Cannadine; 10. The historical Keynes and the history of Keynesianism Peter Clarke; 11. Bastianini and the weakening of the Fascist will to fight the Second World War Owen Chadwick; 12. The New Deal without FDR: what biographies of Roosevelt cannot tell us Tony Badger; History and biography: an inaugural lecture Derek Beales; Derek Beales: a chronological list of publications.

This is a collection of new biographical essays by twelve eminent historians. Among the rich variety of strong characters analysed here are an Austrian emperor, a German kaiser, a Victorian prime minister, an Italian dictator, and an American president.