The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr 1892-1982 [Paperback]

Jonathan Haslam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2000

In Edward Hallet Carr's definitive biography Jonathan Haslam paints a compelling portrait of a man torn between a vicarious identification with the romance of revolution and the ruthless realism of his own intellectual formation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A penetrating, lucid, intellectual biography. -- George Steiner

Elegantly written, well-paced, empathetic without being uncritical...certainly one of the best books I've read in a very long time. -- Michael Cox, International Affairs

Interesting, thorough, and realistic book. -- The New Republic

About the Author

Jonathan Haslam is the author of The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933-41. He is a Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the University Assistant Director of Studies in International Relations (Russia and Eastern Europe).

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Verso (November 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859842895
• ISBN-13: 978-1859842898
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,016,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars errors on your review page, February 7, 2002

By 

jonathan g. haslam (Cambridge United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr 1892-1982 (Paperback)

I am the author. You have listed my name as a reviewer! Please remove it as a reviewer. It looks ridiculous.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best!, October 1, 2007

By 

Tigran Mkrtchyan "tigranius" (Armenia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr 1892-1982 (Paperback)

Very few biographies do exist about Ed. Carr. This biography by Haslam is definitely the best. Haslam himself being a student of Carr could not have made a better tribute to his and many other 'realists' teacher.

5.0 out of 5 stars STRONG ON VICES, WEAK ON INTEGRITY, November 8, 2011

By 

Stephen Cooper (South Yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr 1892-1982 (Paperback)

E.H.Carr burst into the consciousness of every schoolboy in England studying History at 'A' level in 1961, when he published a series of lectures entitled 'What is History?' It was virtually a set book. No-one could contemplate an interview at a University without having read it, and possibly memorised it.

We found out later that he was not the only person to have written about the philosophy of history, and about historiography; and personally, I found that his much-praised 'Bolshevik Revolution' was (a) difficult to read and (b) overrated.

This book shows how far we were misled. The colossus was a man of straw: one of those brilliant scholars whose main aim in life was to be controversial, rather than illuminate. In the 1930s, he was an appeaser. In the 1950s he was effectively a propagandist for Communism. Nobody exposed him at the time; but nothing he wrote has lasting value. The author of this biography plays this down, as the title shows; but in my view he demonstrates the Vices without proving his case about the Integrity.

But it's a splendid read for anyone who ever read 'What is History?' and failed to understand what Carr was really driving at - that the Soviet Union was bound to win the Cold War. Carr died before the collapse of the USSR, which was just as well for him.

Stephen Cooper