The Life and Thought of Herbert Butterfield: History, Science and God

by Michael Bentley

Once recalled only for The Whig Interpretation of History (1931) and Christianity and History (1949), Sir Herbert Butterfield's contribution to western culture has undergone an astonishing revaluation over the past twenty years. What has been left out of this reappraisal is the man himself. Yet the force of Butterfield's writings is weakened without some knowledge of the man behind his temperament, contexts and personal torments. Previous authors have been unable to supply a rounded portrait for lack of available material, particularly a dearth of sources for the crucial period before the outbreak of war in 1939. Michael Bentley's original, startling biography draws on sources never seen before. They enable him to present a new Butterfield, one deeply troubled by self-doubt, driven by an urgent sexuality and plagued by an unending tension between history, science and God in a mind as hard and cynical as it was loving and charitable.

Genres: Biography

398 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

A specialist in British politics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Michael John Bentley, FRHistS, is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and is currently Senior Research Fellow in History at St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Reviews

[Malcolm Yarnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Bentley has written a superb biography of Herbert Butterfield. Although Butterfield might object to some of the material being included which he tried to suppress, and although Bentley overstates his case in saying the standard view of Butterfield is "untenable", this is exactly the type of history that Butterfield himself advocated in his historiographical essays. He would doubtlessly approve, though with a red face.