Review of A. J. P. Taylor, Rumours of Wars (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1953)

Abstract Wight rated Taylor’s achievements highly: “With the exception of Sir Charles Webster, he is our most distinguished international historian, the one who offers the most creative interpretation of the European balance of power and of the tensions and limitations of diplomacy.” Taylor’s “admirably sympathetic judgement on Bismarck’s political principles” stands in tension, Wight noted, with Taylor’s “adherence to the Gladstonian tradition of idealism.” In Wight’s view, this contrast is “not inconsistency on Mr. Taylor’s part; it is the capacity to evaluate by several standards that is demanded by the complex nature of international politics.” Wight acknowledged that Taylor was “occasionally wrong-headed,” exhibiting, for example, “an insular prejudice against the Americans,” and “a warm feeling towards Russia mainly because Russia has been Britain’s traditional ally against Napoleon and the Germans.” Taylor defined history as “primarily communication, a form of literature.… The historian does not only deal with men; he is a man himself, and nothing will turn him into a technician.” In other words, Wight concluded, Taylor rejected “the Butterfield doctrine of an impartial technical history.… Taylor is distinguished from so many professional historians by possessing not only a trenchant style but also a historiographical personality. This is the reason why he is so readable and worth reading.”