The historian Edward Hallett Carr died on 3 November 1982, at the age of 90. He had an oddly laconic obituary in the Times, which missed out a great deal. If he had died ten years before, his death would probably have been noticed a great deal more, for Carr was an eminent left-wing historian, had a huge record of publication, and had embarked, 35 years before his death, on a History of Soviet Russia which has been described as 'monumental' and 'a classic'. By the time he died, the 15th separate book of this History - The Twilight of the Comintern - was just about to appear, and in his papers there is the larger part of a manuscript for the 16th volume. It may perhaps be edited by Carr's friend, Tamara Deutscher, with whom he frequently collaborated.

LRB 10 January 1983 | PDF Download