E. H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal

366 Pages·2000·39.39 MB·English

by  Michael Cox (eds.)

E. H. Carr: A Critical Appraisal
Also by Michael Cox
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E. H. Carr
A Critical Appraisal
Edited by
Michael Cox
Professor of International Politics
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
Foreword by John Carr
* Introduction and Chapter 6 © Michael Cox 2000
Foreword © John Carr 2000
Chapter 1-5, 7-15 © Palgrave Publishers ltd 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000978-0-333-72066-0
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ISBN 978-1-4039-3904-3 ISBN 978-1-137-08823-9 (eBook)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
E.H. Carr: a critical appraisal! edited by Michael Cox; foreword by John Carr.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Carr, Edward Hallett, 1892-1982.2. Historians-Great Britain
-Biography. 3. History-Philosophy. 4. World politics-20th century.
5. Nationalism-Europe-History-20th century. I. Cox, Michael, 1947-
D15.C375 E3 2000
941'.007'202-dc21
00-055677
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Foreword ix
John Carr
Notes on the Contributors x
An Autobiography xiii
E.H. Carr
Introduction: E.H. Carr - a Critical Appraisal 1
Michael Cox
I Life and Times
1. E.H. Carr's Search for Meaning, 1892-1982 21
Jonathan Haslam
2. E.H. Carr - the Aberystwyth Years, 1936-47 36
Brian Porter
3. 'An Active Danger': E.H. Carr at The Times,
1940-46 68
Charles Jones
II The Russian Question
4. Carr's Changing Views of the Soviet Union 91
R.W. Davies
5. The Soviet Carr 109
Stephen White
6. E.H. Carr and Isaac Deutscher: A Very
'Special Relationship' 125
Michael Cox
7. E.H. Carr, the Cold War and the Soviet Union 145
Hillel Ticktin
v
vi Contents
III International Relations
8. Carr and his Early Critics: Responses to
The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1939-46 165
Peter Wilson
9. E.H. Carr and the Quest for Moral
Revolution in International Relations 198
Paul Rich
10. Theories as Weapons: E.H. Carr and International
Relations 217
Tim Dunne
11. E.H. Carr, Nationalism and the Future of the
Sovereign State 234
Andrew Linklater
12. Reason and Romance: the Place of Revolution
in the Works of E.H. Carr 258
Fred Halliday
IV What is History?
13. The Lessons of What is History? 283
Anders Stephanson
14. An English Myth? Rethinking the Contemporary
Value of E.H. Carr's What is History? 304
Keith Jenkins
15. E.H. Carr and the Historical Mode of Thought 322
Randall Germain
Appendices
1. E.ll. Carr: Chronology ofH is Life and Work, 1892-1982 339
2. Papers of E.H. Carr, 1892-1982 344
Index 347
Acknowledgements
This volume began life as an international conference on E.H. Carr held
in July 1997 at the University of Wales conference centre at Gregynog
the splendid house and grounds bequeathed to that fine federal institu
tion by Lord David Davies of Llandinam, a Liberal to his core, and not
surprisingly one of Carr's sworn enemies when Carr held the Woodrow
Wilson Chair at Aberystwyth between 1936 and 1947. The first people I
have to thank therefore are those who helped support the conference -
especially Professor Steve Smith and Guto Thomas, Professor Brean
Hammond - who opened it - those who spoke at it, and those who
also sang on what turned out to be a splendid occasion, notably Charles
Jones, who apart from his musical talents, happens to be the author of a
very distinguished study of Carr's views on international relations.
Many thanks are also extended to the librarians and archivists in the
University of Birmingham (where the Carr papers are held) and at the
International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam where the Deut
scher papers are housed. In particular, I would like to extend a word
of gratitude to Phillippa Bassett, Mieke Ijzermans and Marcel van
der Linden. Carr's collaborator, Bob Davies, Professor Emeritus at the
University of Birmingham, was extremely helpful in sorting out some of
the bibliographical questions, and he was especially generous in allow
ing me to look at his wonderfully revealing correspondence with Carr.
The many letters not only tell us much about Carr, but a good deal
about his warm relations with Bob. Tim Farmiloe, former Publishing
Director, of Macmillan, also deserves a mention. For years he was Carr's
publisher at Macmillan, and no doubt because of this encouraged me in
this project; and what Tim began was then skilfully steered home to port
by Aruna Vasudevan, Peter Dent, Ruth Willats and Maike Bohn. I should
also like to thank Justin Rosenberg of the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher
Committee; it was he who suggested that I give the 1999 Isaac Deutscher
Memorial lecture, some part of the research for which can be found in
my chapter and introduction. Ken Booth, the first named E.H. Carr
Professor in a British university, has to be mentioned too for rescuing
the name of Carr from the realists in international relations. Jonathan
Haslam deserves all our gratitude as well for having written such a fine
biography of Carr. To a large degree we all stand on his shoulders when
it comes to Carr. Finally, a very personal vote of thanks: first to Carr's
vii
viii Acknowledgements
children, John Carr and Rachel Kelly, for being so encouraging and
helpful; to Caroline Soper - the editor of International Affairs - for pub
lishing my 'think piece' on Carr in the July 1999 issue of the journal; to
Christiane Seitz for helping me pull the original manuscript into shape;
and to my wife Fiona and four children, Annaliese, Ben, Dan and Nell
for always being there. To them I dedicate this work in love and deep
appreciation.
Professor Michael Cox
University of Wales,
Aberystwyth
Foreword
John Carr
It is most gratifying that so many years after my father's death in 1982
his ideas are still being so widely studied - and used for discussion and
debate.
In this book Professor Michael Cox has brought together a number of
eminent authors in the various fields in which my father promoted
learning, and often another point of view for thought. This study does
not digress into the nooks and crannies of his personal family life, as
these are irrelevant to the subject of history and the study of interna
tional relations.
The lengths to which a few opponents have gone to vilify the name of
E.H. Carr are quite extraordinary. The stories are often so exaggerated
and wild as to be untrue, and in no way address those arguments with
which they happen to disagree.
Personally, I have happy memories of our family life when my father
would choose to sit in the main sitting-room with us around following
our own pursuits, while he wrote his profound thoughts on pieces of
paper accumulated around his chair. As a man dedicated to his work he
had little time to help with the normal family problems dealt with by
most fathers. Nor was he able to respond to changes affecting the
women in his life, and was thus bewildered when this resulted in the
acrimonious breakdown of his relationships.
However, the dedication in 1999 of the E.H. Carr Chair in the
Department of International Politics in the University of Wales, Aber
ystwyth will, I hope, stimulate further study and understanding of the
future way forward in the world.
ix