The Life of R. H. Tawney

Although there have been earlier studies of Tawney’s life and thought that were broadly biographical in structure, Lawrence Goldman’s is the first to be based on a full examination of the surviving archives, including family papers hitherto closed to researchers. The resulting book is notably thorough, judicious and fair-minded. It is also – and this is something that can be said of all too few biographies – informed by a disciplined understanding of the main currents of the political, social and economic history that provided the setting for Tawney’s work. And, to his great credit, Goldman is not inclined to exaggerate his subject’s importance. -- Stefan Collini * Times Literary Supplement *
Stopping far short of uncritical hero worship, this admiring portrait of Tawney as educator, socialist, public servant and historian nonetheless does full justice to a remarkable man -- R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of History, University of Winchester, UK * The Times Higher Education Supplement *
What emerges from Goldman’s study is a more rounded and multidimensional picture of Tawney the man than any we have previously had. -- Noel Thompson, University of Swansea, UK * American Historical Review *
[Goldman] thoroughly researches Tawney’s life, using new materials, and with fine discrimination analyses every aspect of his thought ... In a brilliant concluding assessment, Goldman agrees that [Tawney] was “the most representative of Labour’s twentieth-century intellectuals”. -- Paul Crook, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland * Australian Journal of Politics and History *
Goldman's careful scholarship and lucid prose are likely to ensure that this one becomes the definitive study. * English Historical Review *