‘Land of Hope and Glory’

Abstract

In 1965, Taylor published his first and only comprehensive study of a major period of English history. With English History, 1914–1945 he embraced the history of his own time and place — came home, so to speak. The Origins of the Second World War would be his last offering in the field that made his scholarly reputation, and to which he had contributed as much as any modern historian. Some thought it had been a remarkable contribution. Douglas Cameron Watt, writing in 1977, described Taylor’s work as diplomatic history written with extraordinary skill, and focused on the key elements of the subject, ‘the role of individuals in history, the influence of personality, the role of deceit and misrepresentation, the “accidental”, and the “unpredictable”’.1 After 1961, Taylor turned his attention primarily to English political and, so far as he could master it, social and even cultural history — written, of course, in narrative form and style.