It is no new thing for British historians to write knowledgeably about American history. They were at work by the early 18th century, wrote significant histories (mainly Tory) of the American Revolution soon after the event had concluded, and in the 19th century produced, in G.O. Trevelyan's six volumes on the Revolution, one of the magisterial works of Whig historiography, and in the two American volumes of Lecky's History of England in the 18th Century a masterpiece of balanced judgment, character analysis and comprehension of complex issues. Many have followed, and in our own time British-American historians continue to write on such major, established topics as Anglo-American diplomatic and military relations, the Revolution, the Civil War, race relations, the New Deal and the Cold War.

LRB 10 November 1994 | PDF Download