David Thomson (historian)
David Thomson (13 January 1912 – 24 February 1970)[1] was an English historian who wrote several books about British and European history.
Education
Thomson was born in
Career
He worked as a university lecturer in history and was a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York. His works included Europe Since Napoleon (Longmans, 1957); World History from 1914 to 1961 (1963); Democracy in France since 1870 (1964) and two volumes of the Pelican History of England, which covered the 19th and the 20th centuries.[2]
Approach
In his preface to the Pelican edition (1966) of Europe Since Napoleon, Thomson wrote that he had attempted to present "the history of the last 150 years of European civilisation in a new way".[2] He doubted the "conventional belief" that countries must be treated separately except when their delegates convene for a conference. He held that "tendencies which transcend several nations at once have a rather special historical importance".[2] He argued that this approach would ensure a cohesion and coherence that "seem appropriate in our postwar experience".[2]
Again using Europe Since Napoleon as an example, whose scope is Europe since 1815, Thomson points out a "necessary prologue" with four main phases since the beginning of the
Bibliography
- Personality and politics
- The Democratic ideal in France and England (1940)
- England in the 19th Century 1815-1914 (1951) online
- Personality and politics
- The Democratic ideal in France and England
- England in the 20th Century 1914-1963 (1965)
- Europe Since Napoleon (Longmans, 1957)
References
- ^ a b c Beales, Derek, "Thomson, David (1912–1970)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, September 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2024. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d David Thomson : Europe Since Napoleon (Longmans, 1957) – frontispiece of 1978 Penguin edition.
- ^ Thomson, Europe Since Napoleon, p.23.
- ^ Thomson, Europe Since Napoleon, pp.24–25.
