Paul Johnson (historian)

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Paul Johnson (right) after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 15, 2006

Paul Bede Johnson CBE (born November 2, 1928 in Manchester , England ) is a British journalist, historian and author. He has written over 40 books and was a contributor to and later editor-in-chief of the New Statesman . In 2006 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom .

Life

Youth and early years

Paul Johnson is the son of Anne and William Aloysius Johnson, who worked as an artist and director of the Burslem School of Art . He received his academic training at Stonyhurst College , Lancashire and Magdalen College , Oxford. One of his professors at Oxford was the historian Alan JP Taylor . He graduated with honors and then served in the British Army , first in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and later in the Royal Army Educational Corps. He reached the rank of captain and was stationed in Gibraltar .

journalism

He then worked from 1952 to 1954 as deputy editor of the French monthly magazine Réalités and later as Paris correspondent for the left-wing British weekly New Statesman . Johnson was politically very socialist at this time and supported the left wing of the Labor Party, represented by Nye Bevan . In 1955 he returned to London and took a position as a regular employee of the New Statesman. After various functions in the editorial office, he became editor of this weekly newspaper in 1965. Johnson's left-wing extremist convictions were already beginning to become fragile, which, together with his Catholicism , was the reason why his appointment was initially criticized by Leonard Woolf and others. He was already in contact with the author Antonia Fraser and his article on the excesses of Beatlemania became the most-discussed article in the history of the magazine. As a result of this criticism, Johnson was initially given the function of editor for only six months probation. Despite these initial difficulties, he remained editor of the New Statesman until 1970.

author

The social crises of the 1970s , which went hand in hand with economic decline and social unrest, led Johnson to profoundly reorient his political views. He criticized the violence and intolerance of the British unions as "fascist" and stated that the left had no answers to the questions of the time. Against the background of the increasingly precarious economic situation in Great Britain, he became a staunch supporter of Margaret Thatcher . After Thatcher's election victory in 1979, he advised her on reforming trade union law and wrote speeches for her.

He began writing historical books from the 1970s, most of which became bestsellers. With "Modern Times" he achieved a worldwide success, which is considered one of the most influential works on the history of the " short 20th century ". Johnson also dealt intensively with the history of the two great monotheistic religions Christianity and Judaism, which he dealt with in various books. As a comprehensive summary of his research in this area, he published "A History of Christianity" in 1976 and "The History of the Jews" in 1987. And finally, American history is another major focus in Johnson's work, with which he has been concerned especially since the 1990s.

Johnson also writes regular columns for daily newspapers, of which the column "And Another Thing", published from 1981 to 2001 in the British magazine The Spectator , was very popular. Until 2001 he also wrote a column for the Daily Mail and The Sun and regularly for The Daily Telegraph (mostly book reviews), The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalCommentary , Forbes and National Review .

Fonts

General

  • A sense of outrage. In: Brian Abel-Smith, Nigel Calder, Richard Hoggart, Mervyn Jones, Norman Mackenzie (Eds.): Conviction. MacGibbon & Kee, 1957, pp. 202-217
  • The Suez War. MacGibbon & Kee, 1957.
  • Journey Into Chaos. MacGibbon & Kee, 1958.
  • Statesmen And Nations. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1971.
  • Enemies of Society. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977.
  • The Recovery of Freedom. Mainstream Series. Basil Blackwell, 1980.
  • Contributions to William Davis (Ed.): The Best of Everything - Animals, Business, Drink, Travel, Food, Literature, Medicine, Playtime, Politics, Theater, Young World, Art, Communications, Law and Crime, Films, Pop Culture, Sports, women's fashion, men's fashion, music, military. 1981.
  • The Pick of Paul Johnson. Harrap, 1985.
  • The Oxford Book Of Political Anecdotes. Oxford University Press, 1986. 2nd edition 1991.
  • Intellectuals. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1988, ISBN 0-297-79395-0 .
  • George J. Marlin, Richard P. Rabatin, Heather Higgins (Eds.): The Quotable Paul Johnson. A Topical Compilation of His Wit, Wisdom and Satire. Atlantic Books, 1994; Noonday Press, 1996.
  • Wake Up Britain. A latter-day pamphlet. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1994.
  • To Hell with Picasso & Other Essays. Selected Pieces from "The Spectator". Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996.
  • Churchill. Biography. 2009.

history

  • The Offshore Islanders. England's People from Roman Occupation to the Present / to European Entry. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1972. New editions: History of the English People. 1985; Offshore Islanders. A History of the English People. 1998.
  • Elizabeth I. A Study in Power and Intellect. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974.
  • The Life and Times of Edward III. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1974.
  • Civilizations of the Holy Land. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976.
  • Education of an Establishment. In George MacDonald Fraser (Ed.): The World Of the Public School. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1977, pp. 13-28.
  • The Civilization of Ancient Egypt. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978.
  • Ireland. A Concise History from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day. Granada, 1981.
  • A History of the Modern World from 1917 to the 1980s. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1983.
  • Modern Times. A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984. New edition: … Present Time. and ... Year 2000. 2005.
  • Gold Fields A Centenary Portrait. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987.
  • The History of the Jews. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. New edition: A History of the Jews. 2005
  • The Birth of the Modern. World Society 1815-1830. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991.
  • The Holocaust. In: A History of the Jews. Phoenix, 1996, pp. 482-517
  • A History of the American People. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997, ISBN 0-06-093034-9 .
  • The Renaissance Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002.
  • Napoleon. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
  • George Washington. The Founding Father. Atlas, 2005.
  • Creators. HarperCollins Publishers, 1006, ISBN 0-06-019143-0
  • Heroes. HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-114316-8 .

religion

  • Pope John XXIII. Hutchinson, 1975.
  • A History of Christianity . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976. New edition: Simon & Schuster / Atheneum, 1977.
  • Pope John Paul II And The Catholic Restoration. St Martins Press, 1982.
  • The Quest for God. A personal pilgrimage. Weidenfeld & Nicolson / HarperCollins, 1996.
  • The papacy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997.

memoirs

  • The Vanished Landscape. A 1930s Childhood in the Potteries. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004, ISBN 978-0753819333 .
  • Letter Lives. Hutchinson, 2010.

art

  • with Gerald Laing, David Mellor: Gerald Laing. Portraits Thomas Gibson. Fine Art, 1993.
  • Julian Barrow's London. Fine Art, 1999.
  • Art. A New History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009.

Novels

  • Left of Center. MacGibbon & Kee, 1959.
  • Merrie England. MacGibbon & Kee, 1964.

to travel

  • with George Gale: The Highland Jaunt. Collins, 1973.
  • A place in history. Places & Buildings Of British History. Omega, 1974.
  • National Trust Book of British Castles. Granada, 1978. New edition: Castles Of England, Scotland And Wales. Weidenfeld, 1992.
  • British Cathedrals. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
  • The Aerofilms Book of London from the Air. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. From the archive: The Menace of Beatlism. February 1964, accessed January 16, 2018 .
  2. Biography | Paul Johnson Archives. Retrieved January 16, 2018 (American English).
  3. ^ Candidate Details - Paul Johnson. December 6, 2015, accessed January 16, 2018 .
  4. Biography | Paul Johnson Archives. Retrieved January 16, 2018 (American English).