Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P.Taylor Book

Most historians get around to writing two big books in their lifetime. AJP Taylor wrote many more, and he has now had two very good books written about him. Taylor was not only one of the bestselling historians of the second half of the 20th century, he was also one of the most recognisable--his unscripted television lectures are legend in broadcasting history--and one of the most controversial. His reinterpretation of Hitler's war aims, his extensive writing on international relations, and his po-faced history of modern England earned him widespread notoriety. A thorough enough biography of Taylor has already been written by Adam Sisman, but Kathleen Burk goes much further in looking at Taylor's teaching and writing career. Burk, an expert in modern Anglo-American relations, and a former research student of Taylor, is particularly good at examining Taylor's years as a junior lecturer in Manchester and as a busy don in Oxford. She provides a more detailed assessment of Taylor's main works than Sisman did, and she also does a wonderful job of costing Taylor's prolific literary and media output, demonstrating that Taylor earned around three times as much money from his media work and royalties than from his teaching salary. Now there's food for thought.--Miles TaylorRead More