The Essential E.P. Thompson, edited by Dorothy Thompson. New Press: New York, 2001. x + 498 pp. $45.00 cloth; $21.95 paper.

Abstract

Readers in the humanities and social sciences abound. There are those that introduce key texts in a given field. Others seek to encapsulate the contributions of a major intellectual figure. In this latter category, there are volumes that focus on cultural critics, social theorists, literary scholars, and political writers. But there are few—if any—that highlight the writings of historians. It is thus says a great deal regarding E.P. Thompson's stature that the New Press has published The Essential E.P. Thompson. He is, as the book's editor Dorothy Thompson states, “one of the most influential historians of his generation” (vii). But he is more than this, as readers of this journal undoubtedly know. He is among the major public intellectuals of the last half of the twentieth century, certainly in the English-speaking world.