The Age of Norman Stone
The right-wing historian Norman Stone died earlier this month aged 78. My brief appreciation is here:
In my view Stone was a decent historian, but someone who also promoted himself as a right-wing commentator. The two were of course related but not, at least when it comes to his best-known work, in a way that undermined his historical writing.
Richard J Evans as written the Guardian’s obituary. While recognising Stone’s historical work it is quite sharply critical. Evans no doubt had in mind Stone’s own criticism of the historian E H Carr shortly after his own death.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/25/norman-stone-obituary
A critique of Evans obituary has now appeared in The Article from a former student of Stone. No doubt Professor Evans can respond himself if he wants to but the piece seems to me to go too far in two areas. Firstly it claims E H Carr is a forgotten historian which I don’t think is the case. How many a book of his is borrowed in the London Library is not a guide. Further it is implied that because Evans has produced an informative and interesting biography of Eric Hobsbawm that he is somehow a communist or Marxist and hence bound to be critical of Stone.
https://www.thearticle.com/whats-wrong-with-richard-evanss-obituary-of-norman-stone
As far as I’m aware and I was pleased that Professor Evans to spoke to a socialist history seminar that the Institute of Historical Research a few years ago, he is a social democrat (a perfectly honourable political position I should add) and his obituary of Stone, while it may be controversial to some, is I think professionally rather than politically motivated.
It must be said that The Times obituary (paywalled) his hardly kinder about Stone’s drinking, philandering and lack of historical research in later years. It also reveals that one of his pet hates was beards. Hmmm
EH Carr forgotten? How many history students have *not* had to read What Is History? If only because of that brief tome he must be one of the most read historians, regardless of the current neglect of his work on the Russian Revolution.