'THE DONS: MENTORS, ECCENTRICS AND GENIUSES'

For two hundred years Oxford and Cambridge Universities were home to some of Britain's greatest teachers and intellects, each forming the minds of the passing generations of students and influencing the thinking and practice of university learning throughout the country and the world.In this entertaining, informative book, Noel Annan is at his incisive best. Displaying his customary mastery of his subject, he describes the great dons in all their glory and eccentricities: who they were, what they were like, why they mattered, and what their legacy is. Written with love and wisdom, the great minds of the past—figures such as John Henry Newman, John Sparrrow, and Isaiah Berlin—are brought alive. In addition, Annan's often quoted article "The Intellectual Aristocracy" is included in this book.No other work has ever explained so precisely and so intimately the significance of the dons and their important role in shaping higher education—at a time when the nature of learning is ever more the subject of dissension and uncertainty."With a charming mixture of analyses and anecdotes, Annan builds up a picture of the changing Oxbridge scene that keeps a reader's imagination. . . . [T]he comical-satirical narrative of which he was a master is a joy to read, and The Dons will deservedly be enjoyed as a bedside book by those who treasure English eccentricity."—Stephen Toulmin, Los Angeles Times Book Review"[A]n affectionate elegy for a class that has largely expired."—Robert Fulford, National & Financial Post"[A] wonderfully gifted and energetic writer. . . . Noel was one of the few figures in English public life known simply by his first name. There was no mistaking him for anyone else."—Jonathan Mirsky, New Yorker"A sparkling collection of essays."—Michael Davie, Times Literary Supplement"[A] highly affectionate . . . look at some of the more remarkable academic personages to distinguish-and sometimes dumbfound-Oxford and Cambridge over the last two centuries. . . . For all that it cherishes eccentricity and abounds in Oxbridge gossip, The Dons is at heart a deeply serious book, one dedicated to a conception of learning and culture that is at once increasingly rare . . . yet very far from being outmoded."—Mark Feeney, Boston Globe"Annan writes elegantly and winningly throughout his book. . . . Leaving arguably the best for last, Annan ends The Dons with a reprinting of his celebrated essay 'The Intellectual Aristocracy,' . . . [B]oth a dazzling tour de force and a clever jeu d'esprit."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World"A witty, erudite, insider account-exactly what one would expect from the best of their type."—Andrew Lycett, Sunday Times

Annan, Noel

HarperCollins, Publishers

Providing an encyclopaedic display of post-war Britain, this book includes sketches from Lord Annan's generation - from Ayer to Wittgenstein, from Keynes to Thatcher. Many social and cultural issues are discussed including pacifism, collectivism and homosexuality.

Our Age: The Generation That Made Post-war Britain

History

Europe

A wonderfully engaging and entertaining history of the great dons of the last two hundred years, by one of our leading historians of ideas. Rich in anecdote, and displaying all the author's customary mastery of his subject, The Dons is Noel Annan at his erudite, encyclopedic and entertaining best. The book is a kaleidoscope of wonderful vignettes illustrating the brilliance and eccentricities of some of the greatest figures of British university life. Here is Buckland dropping to his knees to lick the supposed patch of a martyr's blood in an Italian cathedral and remarking, ?I can tell you what it is; it's bat's urine.' Or the granitic Master of Balliol, A.D. Lindsay, whose riposte on finding himself in a minority of one at a College meeting was, ?I see we are deadlocked'. But, entertaining as it is, The Dons also has a more serious purpose, no other book has ever explained so precisely - and so amusingly - why the dons matter, and the importance of the role they have played in the shaping of British higher education over the past two centuries.

THE DONS: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Harper-perennial

The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses

For two hundred years Oxford and Cambridge Universities were home to some of Britain's greatest teachers and intellects, each forming the minds of the passing generations of students and influencing the thinking and practice of university learning throughout the country and the world. In this entertaining, informative book, Noel Annan is at his incisive best. Displaying his customary mastery of his subject, he describes the great dons in all their glory and eccentricities: who they were, what they were like, why they mattered, and what their legacy is. Written with love and wisdom, the great minds of the past—figures such as John Henry Newman, John Sparrrow, and Isaiah Berlin—are brought alive. In addition, Annan's often quoted article "The Intellectual Aristocracy" is included in this book. No other work has ever explained so precisely and so intimately the significance of the dons and their important role in shaping higher education—at a time when the nature of learning is ever more the subject of dissension and uncertainty. "With a charming mixture of analyses and anecdotes, Annan builds up a picture of the changing Oxbridge scene that keeps a reader's imagination. . . . [T]he comical-satirical narrative of which he was a master is a joy to read, and The Dons will deservedly be enjoyed as a bedside book by those who treasure English eccentricity."—Stephen Toulmin, Los Angeles Times Book Review "[A]n affectionate elegy for a class that has largely expired."—Robert Fulford, National &amp; Financial Post "[A] wonderfully gifted and energetic writer. . . . Noel was one of the few figures in English public life known simply by his first name. There was no mistaking him for anyone else."—Jonathan Mirsky, New Yorker "A sparkling collection of essays."—Michael Davie, Times Literary Supplement "[A] highly affectionate . . . look at some of the more remarkable academic personages to distinguish-and sometimes dumbfound-Oxford and Cambridge over the last two centuries. . . . For all that it cherishes eccentricity and abounds in Oxbridge gossip, The Dons is at heart a deeply serious book, one dedicated to a conception of learning and culture that is at once increasingly rare . . . yet very far from being outmoded."—Mark Feeney, Boston Globe "Annan writes elegantly and winningly throughout his book. . . . Leaving arguably the best for last, Annan ends The Dons with a reprinting of his celebrated essay 'The Intellectual Aristocracy,' . . . [B]oth a dazzling tour de force and a clever jeu d'esprit."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World "A witty, erudite, insider account-exactly what one would expect from the best of their type."—Andrew Lycett, Sunday Times

University of Chicago Press

For two hundred years Oxford and Cambridge Universities were home to some of Britain's greatest teachers and intellects, each forming the minds of the passing generations of students and influencing the thinking and practice of university learning throughout the country and the world. In this entertaining, informative book, Noel Annan is at his incisive best. Displaying his customary mastery of his subject, he describes the great dons in all their glory and eccentricities: who they were, what they were like, why they mattered, and what their legacy is. Written with love and wisdom, the great minds of the past—figures such as John Henry Newman, John Sparrrow, and Isaiah Berlin—are brought alive. In addition, Annan's often quoted article "The Intellectual Aristocracy" is included in this book. No other work has ever explained so precisely and so intimately the significance of the dons and their important role in shaping higher education—at a time when the nature of learning is ever more the subject of dissension and uncertainty.

Professionals & Academics

First edition. After stating that L. Stephen's 1832-1904 "writings are of greater interest than his life and that to understand Stephen is to understand Evangelical morality and Victorian rationalism...," the author proceeds to demonstrate this by giving first a biography with elements of psychobiography, but then interpreting this in the light of Victorian intellectual and moral issues in the process also giving a survey of Victorian intellectuality . Readers of To the Lighthouse are already somewhat acquainted with Stephen in the figure of Mr. Ramsay, Virginia Wolff's portrait or caricature of her father, and those consulting the DNB use a work of which he was the first editor. Review copy with printed slip and handwritten note laid in. Some soiling of dust jacket. xvi, 432 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. large 8vo..

Leslie Stephen: The Godless Victorian

Univ. of Chicago

Our Age tells the story of the intellectuals formed by Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics between 1920 and 1949, the people who in turn shaped the literature, science and politics of their age - and to some extent ours. In a wonderfully detailed and always stimulating narrative, Annan brings to life the world of Christopher Isherwood and W.H. Auden, of Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, of Cyril Connolly and Cecil Beaton, of George Orwell and T.S. Elliot, among others. Filled with telling portraits, Our Age examines the movements that influenced this generation - pacifism, collectivism and modernism. Annan explores the cult of homosexuality and the new morality that pervaded his generation. And he shows why, in the age of appeasement and Munich, some became Marxists and a handful of them Soviet spies, while other became Roman Catholics.

Our Age: English Intellectuals Between the World Wars : A Group Portrait

Random House]

In January 1941, the twenty-four year old Noel Annan was assigned to Military Intelligence in Whitehall, where for the next four years he was to be involved in the crucial work of interpreting information supplied by a network of agents throughout occupied Europe and by the Ultra code-breakers at Bletchley Park. From Winston Churchill to Bomber Harris to the great minds at Bletchley, he describes in superbly characterised detail the people and the problems involved in this unusual and difficult work, which was to play such a vital role in the Allied victory. Immediately after the war in Europe ended, Noel Annan was seconded to the British Zone in defeated Germany to help rebuild the country which he and his colleagues had so recently been working to destroy. Germany's cities were in ruins, its people starving and demoralized, its industry smashed. Britain was changing enemies: from being the ally of the Western Powers, Soviet Russia now became a foe, and Annan got to know the new generation of German politicians who were to bring about the economic miracle that led to the country's renaissance. His account of this pivotal of European history is both fascinating in itself and of considerable importance to our understanding of Europe as it is today. 'Compact, critical, stimulating . . . obligatory reading for all contemporary historians.' Asa Briggs, Financial Times 'Nothing he has written is more fascinating . . . As history written by a participant, the book succeeds triumphantly.' John Grigg, Evening Standard 'A quite splendid example of how personal reminiscence can enrich historical understanding in the hands of a gifted writer.' Raymond Carr, Spectator

Changing Enemies: The Defeat and Regeneration of Germany

Leaders & Notable People

Faber and Faber

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Annan, Noel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Annan, Noel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Annan, Noel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

'THE DONS: MENTORS, ECCENTRICS AND GENIUSES'

Our Age: The Generation That Made Post-war Britain

THE DONS: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses

The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses

The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses

Leslie Stephen: The Godless Victorian

Our Age: English Intellectuals Between the World Wars : A Group Portrait

Changing Enemies: The Defeat and Regeneration of Germany