Tag: Victorians

Topics

Books

Book Edited: Essays on Freedom and Power

– Lord Acton. 1948. Essays on Freedom and Power. Boston Mass. The Beacon Press.
Abstract: Introduction WHEN LORD ACTON died in 1902 his name was unfamiliar to the general public. The assiduous reader of the London Times might have identified him as reputedly the most… More

Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1952. Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago Press: University of Chicago Press. Reissued: Acton Institute 2015.
Review on Amazon: Lord Acton is the author of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this intellectual biography, Gertrude Himmelfarb… More

Book Edited: Essays on Politics and Culture

– Mill, John Stuart. 1962. Essays on Politics and Culture, Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith.
Borrow online: Essays on Politics and Culture Buy hardcopy on Amazon.com: Essays on Politics and Culture

Review: Victorian Minds by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– Gordon, Scott. Victorian Studies 12, no. 3. 1969.
Abstract: MOST OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK ARE reprintings of essays originally published elsewhere – the earliest in 1949 and the latest in 1966. Some of them are scholarly papers… More

Book Edited: On Liberty

– Mil, John Stuart. 1974. On Liberty.  London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Abstract: ‘Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.’ To this ‘one very simple principle’ the whole of Mill’s essay On Liberty is… More

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1974. On liberty and liberalism: the case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf [distributed by Random House].
Buy on Amazon.com: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Read on Jstor: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat

– HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. "Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat." The American Scholar 52, no. 4. 1983.
Abstract: Frederick Engels, writing in 1845, described Chartism as only one manifestation of the “social war” that was being waged in England, a war that was bound to issue in a… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians." New Criterion, November, 1983.
Excerpt : When Lytton Strachey was asked to propose a toast to his Eminent Victorians, he quoted an eminent Victorian biographer: “When I hear men called ‘judicious’ I suspect them;… More

The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1984. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: When did poverty cease to be a ‘natural’ condition and become a ‘social problem’? When did the pauper become distinguished from the poor? What… More

From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals." Commentary Magazine, February, 1985.
Excerpt: “For the Englishman,” Nietzsche wrote in 1889, “morality is not yet a problem.” The English thought that religion was no longer needed as a “guarantee of morality,”… More

The “Real” Marx

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The 'Real' Marx." Commentary Magazine, April, 1985.
Excerpt: It used to be said that the three great giants of modern times—indeed the creators of modernity—were Marx, Darwin, and Freud. In the past few decades we have witnessed major… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1987. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In these brilliant essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America’s most respected scholars of Victorian thought and culture, explores the many facets, public and… More

In Defense of the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "In Defense of the Victorians." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 3. 1988.
Abstract: “Manners and Morals” – the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century was fond of… More

Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew." The American Scholar 57, no. 2. 1988.
Excerpt: “Manners and morals”- the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the eighteenth century was fond of… More

Victorian Values/Jewish Values

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Victorian Values/Jewish Values." Commentary Magazine, February, 1989.
Excerpt: In her recent election campaign, replying to a television interviewer who observed, rather derisively, that she seemed to be approving of “Victorian values,” Margaret Thatcher… More

Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1991. Poverty and compassion: the moral imagination of the late Victorians. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In a provocative study that bristles with contemporary relevance, Himmelfarb demonstrates that the material and moral dimensions of poverty were inseparable in the minds… More

Review: A Victorian Mind

– Malchow, H. L. "A Victorian Mind: Gertrude Himmelfarb, Poverty, and the Moral Imagination." Victorian Studies 35, no. 3. 1992.
Abstract: THE PUBLICATION OF POVERTY AND COMPASSION: THE MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE Late Victorians is the culmination of a major endeavor in intellectual history- one that has spanned the… More

Review: Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty

– Fromm, Harold. "Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty." The Hudson Review 47, no. 3. 1994.
Abstract: What happens to our passion for literature when any “text” qualifies as literature, when theory is elevated above poetry and the critic above the poet, and when… More

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

– Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1995. The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for… More

Review: Victoria’s Virtues

– Quinn, John F. "Victoria's Virtues." The Review of Politics 58, no. 3. 1996.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb has never been the sort to shy away from controversy. In her previous works, she has taken to task social historians, radical feminists, deconstructionists and… More

Book Edited: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism

– Drescher, Seymour(translator), Alexis de Tocqueville. 1968. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism. Great Britain: Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex
Abstract: The Authors: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. He began a career in government service in 1827 and spent a year in America preparing a… More

Review: Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves

– Beum, Robert. "Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves." The Sewanee Review 105, no. 2. 1997.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb probably knows more about Victorian England than anyone alive. She knows the era’s many defamers no less intimately and has faced them all along as a… More

Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles." New Criterion. June,  2000.
Excerpt: Almost fifty years ago, introducing my biography of Lord Acton, I wrote: “He is of this age, more than of his. He is, indeed, one of our great contemporaries.” A decade and a… More

‘The Roads to Modernity’: Freedom Philosophers

– McLemee, Scott, "The Roads to Modernity: Freedom Philosophers" New York Times, October 12, 2004.
Abstract: IN 1995, William Kristol published a manifesto-like essay called “The Politics of Liberty, the Sociology of Virtue” — reprinted, the following year, as the final… More

Review: The Roads to Modernity by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– NUECHTERLEIN, JAMES A. Commentary Magazine. 2004.
Abstract: When I was in graduate school in the early 1960’s, a fellow student amused the rest of us by circulating a course description he had run across in the catalog of an obscure… More

Book Edited: The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude, ed. 2007. The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays. Yale University Press.
  Introduction: In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, John Stuart Mill published a series of essays (anonymously, as was the custom) in the radical weekly the Examiner, under the title… More

The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2009. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot. Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: It is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written… More

Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot – Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision

– Smith, Suzanne. "Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb's The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot - Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision." The Harvard Theological Review103, no. 2. 2010.
Abstract: In reflecting upon the fact that religious language survives long after the practices and the devotion that gave rise to it have departed, Alasdair Maclntyre once observed that… More

The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2011. The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill. New York: Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: “The history of Judaism has for too long been dominated by the theme of antisemitism, reducing Judaism to the recurrent saga of persecution and the struggle for… More

The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher’s Virtues

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher's Virtues." The Weekly Standard, April 22, 2013.
Excerpt: I was at a reception at the British embassy here in Washington in the early 1990s, I believe, when I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher by John O’Sullivan, her friend and former… More

Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us." The Weekly Standard,  September 9, 2013.
Excerpt: Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)—“the greatest Victorian,” as an eminent historian of that period memorialized him, editor of the Economist, author of The English Constitution,… More

‘Der Alte Jude’: The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "'Der Alte Jude': The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli." The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2016.
Excerpt A recent book in the Yale University Press series on “Jewish Lives,” a biography of the nineteenth-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, opens provocatively:… More

Essays

Book Edited: Essays on Freedom and Power

– Lord Acton. 1948. Essays on Freedom and Power. Boston Mass. The Beacon Press.
Abstract: Introduction WHEN LORD ACTON died in 1902 his name was unfamiliar to the general public. The assiduous reader of the London Times might have identified him as reputedly the most… More

Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1952. Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago Press: University of Chicago Press. Reissued: Acton Institute 2015.
Review on Amazon: Lord Acton is the author of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this intellectual biography, Gertrude Himmelfarb… More

Book Edited: Essays on Politics and Culture

– Mill, John Stuart. 1962. Essays on Politics and Culture, Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith.
Borrow online: Essays on Politics and Culture Buy hardcopy on Amazon.com: Essays on Politics and Culture

Review: Victorian Minds by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– Gordon, Scott. Victorian Studies 12, no. 3. 1969.
Abstract: MOST OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK ARE reprintings of essays originally published elsewhere – the earliest in 1949 and the latest in 1966. Some of them are scholarly papers… More

Book Edited: On Liberty

– Mil, John Stuart. 1974. On Liberty.  London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Abstract: ‘Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.’ To this ‘one very simple principle’ the whole of Mill’s essay On Liberty is… More

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1974. On liberty and liberalism: the case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf [distributed by Random House].
Buy on Amazon.com: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Read on Jstor: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat

– HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. "Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat." The American Scholar 52, no. 4. 1983.
Abstract: Frederick Engels, writing in 1845, described Chartism as only one manifestation of the “social war” that was being waged in England, a war that was bound to issue in a… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians." New Criterion, November, 1983.
Excerpt : When Lytton Strachey was asked to propose a toast to his Eminent Victorians, he quoted an eminent Victorian biographer: “When I hear men called ‘judicious’ I suspect them;… More

The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1984. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: When did poverty cease to be a ‘natural’ condition and become a ‘social problem’? When did the pauper become distinguished from the poor? What… More

From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals." Commentary Magazine, February, 1985.
Excerpt: “For the Englishman,” Nietzsche wrote in 1889, “morality is not yet a problem.” The English thought that religion was no longer needed as a “guarantee of morality,”… More

The “Real” Marx

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The 'Real' Marx." Commentary Magazine, April, 1985.
Excerpt: It used to be said that the three great giants of modern times—indeed the creators of modernity—were Marx, Darwin, and Freud. In the past few decades we have witnessed major… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1987. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In these brilliant essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America’s most respected scholars of Victorian thought and culture, explores the many facets, public and… More

In Defense of the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "In Defense of the Victorians." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 3. 1988.
Abstract: “Manners and Morals” – the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century was fond of… More

Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew." The American Scholar 57, no. 2. 1988.
Excerpt: “Manners and morals”- the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the eighteenth century was fond of… More

Victorian Values/Jewish Values

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Victorian Values/Jewish Values." Commentary Magazine, February, 1989.
Excerpt: In her recent election campaign, replying to a television interviewer who observed, rather derisively, that she seemed to be approving of “Victorian values,” Margaret Thatcher… More

Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1991. Poverty and compassion: the moral imagination of the late Victorians. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In a provocative study that bristles with contemporary relevance, Himmelfarb demonstrates that the material and moral dimensions of poverty were inseparable in the minds… More

Review: A Victorian Mind

– Malchow, H. L. "A Victorian Mind: Gertrude Himmelfarb, Poverty, and the Moral Imagination." Victorian Studies 35, no. 3. 1992.
Abstract: THE PUBLICATION OF POVERTY AND COMPASSION: THE MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE Late Victorians is the culmination of a major endeavor in intellectual history- one that has spanned the… More

Review: Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty

– Fromm, Harold. "Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty." The Hudson Review 47, no. 3. 1994.
Abstract: What happens to our passion for literature when any “text” qualifies as literature, when theory is elevated above poetry and the critic above the poet, and when… More

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

– Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1995. The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for… More

Review: Victoria’s Virtues

– Quinn, John F. "Victoria's Virtues." The Review of Politics 58, no. 3. 1996.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb has never been the sort to shy away from controversy. In her previous works, she has taken to task social historians, radical feminists, deconstructionists and… More

Book Edited: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism

– Drescher, Seymour(translator), Alexis de Tocqueville. 1968. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism. Great Britain: Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex
Abstract: The Authors: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. He began a career in government service in 1827 and spent a year in America preparing a… More

Review: Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves

– Beum, Robert. "Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves." The Sewanee Review 105, no. 2. 1997.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb probably knows more about Victorian England than anyone alive. She knows the era’s many defamers no less intimately and has faced them all along as a… More

Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles." New Criterion. June,  2000.
Excerpt: Almost fifty years ago, introducing my biography of Lord Acton, I wrote: “He is of this age, more than of his. He is, indeed, one of our great contemporaries.” A decade and a… More

‘The Roads to Modernity’: Freedom Philosophers

– McLemee, Scott, "The Roads to Modernity: Freedom Philosophers" New York Times, October 12, 2004.
Abstract: IN 1995, William Kristol published a manifesto-like essay called “The Politics of Liberty, the Sociology of Virtue” — reprinted, the following year, as the final… More

Review: The Roads to Modernity by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– NUECHTERLEIN, JAMES A. Commentary Magazine. 2004.
Abstract: When I was in graduate school in the early 1960’s, a fellow student amused the rest of us by circulating a course description he had run across in the catalog of an obscure… More

Book Edited: The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude, ed. 2007. The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays. Yale University Press.
  Introduction: In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, John Stuart Mill published a series of essays (anonymously, as was the custom) in the radical weekly the Examiner, under the title… More

The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2009. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot. Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: It is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written… More

Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot – Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision

– Smith, Suzanne. "Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb's The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot - Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision." The Harvard Theological Review103, no. 2. 2010.
Abstract: In reflecting upon the fact that religious language survives long after the practices and the devotion that gave rise to it have departed, Alasdair Maclntyre once observed that… More

The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2011. The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill. New York: Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: “The history of Judaism has for too long been dominated by the theme of antisemitism, reducing Judaism to the recurrent saga of persecution and the struggle for… More

The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher’s Virtues

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher's Virtues." The Weekly Standard, April 22, 2013.
Excerpt: I was at a reception at the British embassy here in Washington in the early 1990s, I believe, when I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher by John O’Sullivan, her friend and former… More

Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us." The Weekly Standard,  September 9, 2013.
Excerpt: Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)—“the greatest Victorian,” as an eminent historian of that period memorialized him, editor of the Economist, author of The English Constitution,… More

‘Der Alte Jude’: The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "'Der Alte Jude': The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli." The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2016.
Excerpt A recent book in the Yale University Press series on “Jewish Lives,” a biography of the nineteenth-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, opens provocatively:… More

Commentary

Book Edited: Essays on Freedom and Power

– Lord Acton. 1948. Essays on Freedom and Power. Boston Mass. The Beacon Press.
Abstract: Introduction WHEN LORD ACTON died in 1902 his name was unfamiliar to the general public. The assiduous reader of the London Times might have identified him as reputedly the most… More

Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1952. Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago Press: University of Chicago Press. Reissued: Acton Institute 2015.
Review on Amazon: Lord Acton is the author of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this intellectual biography, Gertrude Himmelfarb… More

Book Edited: Essays on Politics and Culture

– Mill, John Stuart. 1962. Essays on Politics and Culture, Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith.
Borrow online: Essays on Politics and Culture Buy hardcopy on Amazon.com: Essays on Politics and Culture

Review: Victorian Minds by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– Gordon, Scott. Victorian Studies 12, no. 3. 1969.
Abstract: MOST OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK ARE reprintings of essays originally published elsewhere – the earliest in 1949 and the latest in 1966. Some of them are scholarly papers… More

Book Edited: On Liberty

– Mil, John Stuart. 1974. On Liberty.  London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Abstract: ‘Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.’ To this ‘one very simple principle’ the whole of Mill’s essay On Liberty is… More

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1974. On liberty and liberalism: the case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf [distributed by Random House].
Buy on Amazon.com: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Read on Jstor: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat

– HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. "Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat." The American Scholar 52, no. 4. 1983.
Abstract: Frederick Engels, writing in 1845, described Chartism as only one manifestation of the “social war” that was being waged in England, a war that was bound to issue in a… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians." New Criterion, November, 1983.
Excerpt : When Lytton Strachey was asked to propose a toast to his Eminent Victorians, he quoted an eminent Victorian biographer: “When I hear men called ‘judicious’ I suspect them;… More

The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1984. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: When did poverty cease to be a ‘natural’ condition and become a ‘social problem’? When did the pauper become distinguished from the poor? What… More

From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals." Commentary Magazine, February, 1985.
Excerpt: “For the Englishman,” Nietzsche wrote in 1889, “morality is not yet a problem.” The English thought that religion was no longer needed as a “guarantee of morality,”… More

The “Real” Marx

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The 'Real' Marx." Commentary Magazine, April, 1985.
Excerpt: It used to be said that the three great giants of modern times—indeed the creators of modernity—were Marx, Darwin, and Freud. In the past few decades we have witnessed major… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1987. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In these brilliant essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America’s most respected scholars of Victorian thought and culture, explores the many facets, public and… More

In Defense of the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "In Defense of the Victorians." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 3. 1988.
Abstract: “Manners and Morals” – the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century was fond of… More

Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew." The American Scholar 57, no. 2. 1988.
Excerpt: “Manners and morals”- the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the eighteenth century was fond of… More

Victorian Values/Jewish Values

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Victorian Values/Jewish Values." Commentary Magazine, February, 1989.
Excerpt: In her recent election campaign, replying to a television interviewer who observed, rather derisively, that she seemed to be approving of “Victorian values,” Margaret Thatcher… More

Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1991. Poverty and compassion: the moral imagination of the late Victorians. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In a provocative study that bristles with contemporary relevance, Himmelfarb demonstrates that the material and moral dimensions of poverty were inseparable in the minds… More

Review: A Victorian Mind

– Malchow, H. L. "A Victorian Mind: Gertrude Himmelfarb, Poverty, and the Moral Imagination." Victorian Studies 35, no. 3. 1992.
Abstract: THE PUBLICATION OF POVERTY AND COMPASSION: THE MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE Late Victorians is the culmination of a major endeavor in intellectual history- one that has spanned the… More

Review: Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty

– Fromm, Harold. "Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty." The Hudson Review 47, no. 3. 1994.
Abstract: What happens to our passion for literature when any “text” qualifies as literature, when theory is elevated above poetry and the critic above the poet, and when… More

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

– Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1995. The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for… More

Review: Victoria’s Virtues

– Quinn, John F. "Victoria's Virtues." The Review of Politics 58, no. 3. 1996.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb has never been the sort to shy away from controversy. In her previous works, she has taken to task social historians, radical feminists, deconstructionists and… More

Book Edited: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism

– Drescher, Seymour(translator), Alexis de Tocqueville. 1968. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism. Great Britain: Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex
Abstract: The Authors: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. He began a career in government service in 1827 and spent a year in America preparing a… More

Review: Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves

– Beum, Robert. "Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves." The Sewanee Review 105, no. 2. 1997.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb probably knows more about Victorian England than anyone alive. She knows the era’s many defamers no less intimately and has faced them all along as a… More

Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles." New Criterion. June,  2000.
Excerpt: Almost fifty years ago, introducing my biography of Lord Acton, I wrote: “He is of this age, more than of his. He is, indeed, one of our great contemporaries.” A decade and a… More

‘The Roads to Modernity’: Freedom Philosophers

– McLemee, Scott, "The Roads to Modernity: Freedom Philosophers" New York Times, October 12, 2004.
Abstract: IN 1995, William Kristol published a manifesto-like essay called “The Politics of Liberty, the Sociology of Virtue” — reprinted, the following year, as the final… More

Review: The Roads to Modernity by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– NUECHTERLEIN, JAMES A. Commentary Magazine. 2004.
Abstract: When I was in graduate school in the early 1960’s, a fellow student amused the rest of us by circulating a course description he had run across in the catalog of an obscure… More

Book Edited: The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude, ed. 2007. The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays. Yale University Press.
  Introduction: In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, John Stuart Mill published a series of essays (anonymously, as was the custom) in the radical weekly the Examiner, under the title… More

The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2009. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot. Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: It is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written… More

Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot – Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision

– Smith, Suzanne. "Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb's The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot - Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision." The Harvard Theological Review103, no. 2. 2010.
Abstract: In reflecting upon the fact that religious language survives long after the practices and the devotion that gave rise to it have departed, Alasdair Maclntyre once observed that… More

The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2011. The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill. New York: Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: “The history of Judaism has for too long been dominated by the theme of antisemitism, reducing Judaism to the recurrent saga of persecution and the struggle for… More

The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher’s Virtues

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher's Virtues." The Weekly Standard, April 22, 2013.
Excerpt: I was at a reception at the British embassy here in Washington in the early 1990s, I believe, when I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher by John O’Sullivan, her friend and former… More

Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us." The Weekly Standard,  September 9, 2013.
Excerpt: Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)—“the greatest Victorian,” as an eminent historian of that period memorialized him, editor of the Economist, author of The English Constitution,… More

‘Der Alte Jude’: The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "'Der Alte Jude': The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli." The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2016.
Excerpt A recent book in the Yale University Press series on “Jewish Lives,” a biography of the nineteenth-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, opens provocatively:… More

Multimedia

Book Edited: Essays on Freedom and Power

– Lord Acton. 1948. Essays on Freedom and Power. Boston Mass. The Beacon Press.
Abstract: Introduction WHEN LORD ACTON died in 1902 his name was unfamiliar to the general public. The assiduous reader of the London Times might have identified him as reputedly the most… More

Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1952. Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago Press: University of Chicago Press. Reissued: Acton Institute 2015.
Review on Amazon: Lord Acton is the author of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this intellectual biography, Gertrude Himmelfarb… More

Book Edited: Essays on Politics and Culture

– Mill, John Stuart. 1962. Essays on Politics and Culture, Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith.
Borrow online: Essays on Politics and Culture Buy hardcopy on Amazon.com: Essays on Politics and Culture

Review: Victorian Minds by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– Gordon, Scott. Victorian Studies 12, no. 3. 1969.
Abstract: MOST OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK ARE reprintings of essays originally published elsewhere – the earliest in 1949 and the latest in 1966. Some of them are scholarly papers… More

Book Edited: On Liberty

– Mil, John Stuart. 1974. On Liberty.  London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Abstract: ‘Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.’ To this ‘one very simple principle’ the whole of Mill’s essay On Liberty is… More

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1974. On liberty and liberalism: the case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf [distributed by Random House].
Buy on Amazon.com: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Read on Jstor: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat

– HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. "Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat." The American Scholar 52, no. 4. 1983.
Abstract: Frederick Engels, writing in 1845, described Chartism as only one manifestation of the “social war” that was being waged in England, a war that was bound to issue in a… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians." New Criterion, November, 1983.
Excerpt : When Lytton Strachey was asked to propose a toast to his Eminent Victorians, he quoted an eminent Victorian biographer: “When I hear men called ‘judicious’ I suspect them;… More

The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1984. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: When did poverty cease to be a ‘natural’ condition and become a ‘social problem’? When did the pauper become distinguished from the poor? What… More

From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals." Commentary Magazine, February, 1985.
Excerpt: “For the Englishman,” Nietzsche wrote in 1889, “morality is not yet a problem.” The English thought that religion was no longer needed as a “guarantee of morality,”… More

The “Real” Marx

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The 'Real' Marx." Commentary Magazine, April, 1985.
Excerpt: It used to be said that the three great giants of modern times—indeed the creators of modernity—were Marx, Darwin, and Freud. In the past few decades we have witnessed major… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1987. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In these brilliant essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America’s most respected scholars of Victorian thought and culture, explores the many facets, public and… More

In Defense of the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "In Defense of the Victorians." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 3. 1988.
Abstract: “Manners and Morals” – the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century was fond of… More

Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew." The American Scholar 57, no. 2. 1988.
Excerpt: “Manners and morals”- the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the eighteenth century was fond of… More

Victorian Values/Jewish Values

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Victorian Values/Jewish Values." Commentary Magazine, February, 1989.
Excerpt: In her recent election campaign, replying to a television interviewer who observed, rather derisively, that she seemed to be approving of “Victorian values,” Margaret Thatcher… More

Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1991. Poverty and compassion: the moral imagination of the late Victorians. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In a provocative study that bristles with contemporary relevance, Himmelfarb demonstrates that the material and moral dimensions of poverty were inseparable in the minds… More

Review: A Victorian Mind

– Malchow, H. L. "A Victorian Mind: Gertrude Himmelfarb, Poverty, and the Moral Imagination." Victorian Studies 35, no. 3. 1992.
Abstract: THE PUBLICATION OF POVERTY AND COMPASSION: THE MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE Late Victorians is the culmination of a major endeavor in intellectual history- one that has spanned the… More

Review: Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty

– Fromm, Harold. "Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty." The Hudson Review 47, no. 3. 1994.
Abstract: What happens to our passion for literature when any “text” qualifies as literature, when theory is elevated above poetry and the critic above the poet, and when… More

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

– Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1995. The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for… More

Review: Victoria’s Virtues

– Quinn, John F. "Victoria's Virtues." The Review of Politics 58, no. 3. 1996.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb has never been the sort to shy away from controversy. In her previous works, she has taken to task social historians, radical feminists, deconstructionists and… More

Book Edited: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism

– Drescher, Seymour(translator), Alexis de Tocqueville. 1968. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism. Great Britain: Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex
Abstract: The Authors: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. He began a career in government service in 1827 and spent a year in America preparing a… More

Review: Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves

– Beum, Robert. "Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves." The Sewanee Review 105, no. 2. 1997.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb probably knows more about Victorian England than anyone alive. She knows the era’s many defamers no less intimately and has faced them all along as a… More

Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles." New Criterion. June,  2000.
Excerpt: Almost fifty years ago, introducing my biography of Lord Acton, I wrote: “He is of this age, more than of his. He is, indeed, one of our great contemporaries.” A decade and a… More

‘The Roads to Modernity’: Freedom Philosophers

– McLemee, Scott, "The Roads to Modernity: Freedom Philosophers" New York Times, October 12, 2004.
Abstract: IN 1995, William Kristol published a manifesto-like essay called “The Politics of Liberty, the Sociology of Virtue” — reprinted, the following year, as the final… More

Review: The Roads to Modernity by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– NUECHTERLEIN, JAMES A. Commentary Magazine. 2004.
Abstract: When I was in graduate school in the early 1960’s, a fellow student amused the rest of us by circulating a course description he had run across in the catalog of an obscure… More

Book Edited: The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude, ed. 2007. The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays. Yale University Press.
  Introduction: In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, John Stuart Mill published a series of essays (anonymously, as was the custom) in the radical weekly the Examiner, under the title… More

The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2009. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot. Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: It is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written… More

Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot – Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision

– Smith, Suzanne. "Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb's The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot - Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision." The Harvard Theological Review103, no. 2. 2010.
Abstract: In reflecting upon the fact that religious language survives long after the practices and the devotion that gave rise to it have departed, Alasdair Maclntyre once observed that… More

The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2011. The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill. New York: Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: “The history of Judaism has for too long been dominated by the theme of antisemitism, reducing Judaism to the recurrent saga of persecution and the struggle for… More

The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher’s Virtues

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher's Virtues." The Weekly Standard, April 22, 2013.
Excerpt: I was at a reception at the British embassy here in Washington in the early 1990s, I believe, when I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher by John O’Sullivan, her friend and former… More

Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us." The Weekly Standard,  September 9, 2013.
Excerpt: Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)—“the greatest Victorian,” as an eminent historian of that period memorialized him, editor of the Economist, author of The English Constitution,… More

‘Der Alte Jude’: The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "'Der Alte Jude': The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli." The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2016.
Excerpt A recent book in the Yale University Press series on “Jewish Lives,” a biography of the nineteenth-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, opens provocatively:… More

Teaching

Book Edited: Essays on Freedom and Power

– Lord Acton. 1948. Essays on Freedom and Power. Boston Mass. The Beacon Press.
Abstract: Introduction WHEN LORD ACTON died in 1902 his name was unfamiliar to the general public. The assiduous reader of the London Times might have identified him as reputedly the most… More

Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1952. Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago Press: University of Chicago Press. Reissued: Acton Institute 2015.
Review on Amazon: Lord Acton is the author of the maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In this intellectual biography, Gertrude Himmelfarb… More

Book Edited: Essays on Politics and Culture

– Mill, John Stuart. 1962. Essays on Politics and Culture, Gloucester, Mass. : Peter Smith.
Borrow online: Essays on Politics and Culture Buy hardcopy on Amazon.com: Essays on Politics and Culture

Review: Victorian Minds by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– Gordon, Scott. Victorian Studies 12, no. 3. 1969.
Abstract: MOST OF THE CHAPTERS IN THIS BOOK ARE reprintings of essays originally published elsewhere – the earliest in 1949 and the latest in 1966. Some of them are scholarly papers… More

Book Edited: On Liberty

– Mil, John Stuart. 1974. On Liberty.  London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books.
Abstract: ‘Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.’ To this ‘one very simple principle’ the whole of Mill’s essay On Liberty is… More

On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1974. On liberty and liberalism: the case of John Stuart Mill. New York: Knopf [distributed by Random House].
Buy on Amazon.com: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill Read on Jstor: On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat

– HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE. "Engels in Manchester: Inventing the Proletariat." The American Scholar 52, no. 4. 1983.
Abstract: Frederick Engels, writing in 1845, described Chartism as only one manifestation of the “social war” that was being waged in England, a war that was bound to issue in a… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians." New Criterion, November, 1983.
Excerpt : When Lytton Strachey was asked to propose a toast to his Eminent Victorians, he quoted an eminent Victorian biographer: “When I hear men called ‘judicious’ I suspect them;… More

The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1984. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: When did poverty cease to be a ‘natural’ condition and become a ‘social problem’? When did the pauper become distinguished from the poor? What… More

From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "From Clapham to Bloomsbury: A Genealogy of Morals." Commentary Magazine, February, 1985.
Excerpt: “For the Englishman,” Nietzsche wrote in 1889, “morality is not yet a problem.” The English thought that religion was no longer needed as a “guarantee of morality,”… More

The “Real” Marx

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The 'Real' Marx." Commentary Magazine, April, 1985.
Excerpt: It used to be said that the three great giants of modern times—indeed the creators of modernity—were Marx, Darwin, and Freud. In the past few decades we have witnessed major… More

Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1987. Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In these brilliant essays, Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America’s most respected scholars of Victorian thought and culture, explores the many facets, public and… More

In Defense of the Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "In Defense of the Victorians." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 12, no. 3. 1988.
Abstract: “Manners and Morals” – the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century was fond of… More

Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Manners into Morals: What the Victorians Knew." The American Scholar 57, no. 2. 1988.
Excerpt: “Manners and morals”- the expression is peculiarly, unmistakably Victorian. Not “manners” alone: Lord Chesterfield in the eighteenth century was fond of… More

Victorian Values/Jewish Values

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Victorian Values/Jewish Values." Commentary Magazine, February, 1989.
Excerpt: In her recent election campaign, replying to a television interviewer who observed, rather derisively, that she seemed to be approving of “Victorian values,” Margaret Thatcher… More

Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 1991. Poverty and compassion: the moral imagination of the late Victorians. New York: Knopf.
Review on Amazon: In a provocative study that bristles with contemporary relevance, Himmelfarb demonstrates that the material and moral dimensions of poverty were inseparable in the minds… More

Review: A Victorian Mind

– Malchow, H. L. "A Victorian Mind: Gertrude Himmelfarb, Poverty, and the Moral Imagination." Victorian Studies 35, no. 3. 1992.
Abstract: THE PUBLICATION OF POVERTY AND COMPASSION: THE MORAL IMAGINATION OF THE Late Victorians is the culmination of a major endeavor in intellectual history- one that has spanned the… More

Review: Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty

– Fromm, Harold. "Himmelfarb, Mill, and the Dodges of Liberty." The Hudson Review 47, no. 3. 1994.
Abstract: What happens to our passion for literature when any “text” qualifies as literature, when theory is elevated above poetry and the critic above the poet, and when… More

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

– Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1995. The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Review on Amazon: As the debate over values grows ever more divisive, one of the most eminent historians of the Victorian era reminds readers that values are no substitute for… More

Review: Victoria’s Virtues

– Quinn, John F. "Victoria's Virtues." The Review of Politics 58, no. 3. 1996.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb has never been the sort to shy away from controversy. In her previous works, she has taken to task social historians, radical feminists, deconstructionists and… More

Book Edited: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism

– Drescher, Seymour(translator), Alexis de Tocqueville. 1968. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Memoir on Pauperism. Great Britain: Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex
Abstract: The Authors: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. He began a career in government service in 1827 and spent a year in America preparing a… More

Review: Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves

– Beum, Robert. "Gertrude Himmelfarb on The Victorians and Ourselves." The Sewanee Review 105, no. 2. 1997.
Abstract: Gertrude Himmelfarb probably knows more about Victorian England than anyone alive. She knows the era’s many defamers no less intimately and has faced them all along as a… More

Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Lord Acton: in Pursuit of First Principles." New Criterion. June,  2000.
Excerpt: Almost fifty years ago, introducing my biography of Lord Acton, I wrote: “He is of this age, more than of his. He is, indeed, one of our great contemporaries.” A decade and a… More

‘The Roads to Modernity’: Freedom Philosophers

– McLemee, Scott, "The Roads to Modernity: Freedom Philosophers" New York Times, October 12, 2004.
Abstract: IN 1995, William Kristol published a manifesto-like essay called “The Politics of Liberty, the Sociology of Virtue” — reprinted, the following year, as the final… More

Review: The Roads to Modernity by Gertrude Himmelfarb

– NUECHTERLEIN, JAMES A. Commentary Magazine. 2004.
Abstract: When I was in graduate school in the early 1960’s, a fellow student amused the rest of us by circulating a course description he had run across in the catalog of an obscure… More

Book Edited: The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude, ed. 2007. The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays. Yale University Press.
  Introduction: In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, John Stuart Mill published a series of essays (anonymously, as was the custom) in the radical weekly the Examiner, under the title… More

The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2009. The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot. Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: It is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written… More

Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot – Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision

– Smith, Suzanne. "Review of Gertrude Himmelfarb's The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot - Judaism and the Human Future: A Victorian Vision." The Harvard Theological Review103, no. 2. 2010.
Abstract: In reflecting upon the fact that religious language survives long after the practices and the devotion that gave rise to it have departed, Alasdair Maclntyre once observed that… More

The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. 2011. The people of the book: philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill. New York: Encounter Books.
Review from Amazon: “The history of Judaism has for too long been dominated by the theme of antisemitism, reducing Judaism to the recurrent saga of persecution and the struggle for… More

The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher’s Virtues

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "The Victorian Lady: Margaret Thatcher's Virtues." The Weekly Standard, April 22, 2013.
Excerpt: I was at a reception at the British embassy here in Washington in the early 1990s, I believe, when I was introduced to Margaret Thatcher by John O’Sullivan, her friend and former… More

Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "Meet Mr. Bagehot: How ‘The Greatest Victorian’ Speaks to Us." The Weekly Standard,  September 9, 2013.
Excerpt: Walter Bagehot (1826-1877)—“the greatest Victorian,” as an eminent historian of that period memorialized him, editor of the Economist, author of The English Constitution,… More

‘Der Alte Jude’: The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli

– Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "'Der Alte Jude': The Jewish Life of Benjamin Disraeli." The Weekly Standard, May 6, 2016.
Excerpt A recent book in the Yale University Press series on “Jewish Lives,” a biography of the nineteenth-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, opens provocatively:… More