Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

, with a focus on Great Britain and the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, as well as on contemporary society and culture.

Biography

Himmelfarb was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Bertha (née Lerner) and Max Himmelfarb, both of Russian Jewish background. She received her undergraduate degree from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

in 1942 and her doctorate from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1950. Himmelfarb later went on to study at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the United Kingdom, and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. In 1942, she married Irving Kristol, known as the "godfather" of

neoconservatism Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

, and had two children, Elizabeth Nelson and

William Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine '' The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is e ...

, a political commentator and editor of The Weekly Standard. She never changed her last name. Sociologist Daniel Bell wrote that theirs was "the best marriage of our generation" and her husband wrote that he was “astonished how intellectually twinned” the two were “pursuing different subjects while thinking the same thoughts and reaching the same conclusions”. She was long involved in Jewish conservative intellectual circles. Professor Emerita at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, she was the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. She served on the Council of Scholars of the Library of Congress, the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute, and the Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was a Fellow of the British Academy and of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. In 1991, she delivered the Jefferson Lecture under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2004, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. Himmelfarb died from heart failure at her home in Washington on December 30, 2019, at the age of 97.Brooks, David.
The Historian of Moral Revolution
, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', December 31, 2019.

Historiography

Himmelfarb long nurtured the neoconservative movement in U.S. politics and intellectual life; her husband, Irving Kristol, helped found the movement. Himmelfarb was a leading defender of traditional historical methods and practices. Her book, ''The New History and the Old'' (published in 1987 and revised and expanded in 2004), is a critique of the varieties of " new history" that have sought to displace the old. The "New Histories" she critiqued include:

quantitative history Quantitative history is a method of historical research that uses quantitative, statistical and computer resources. It is a type of the social science history and has four major journals: ''Historical Methods'' (1967– ), '' Journal of Interd ...

that presumes to be more "scientific" than conventional history, but relies on partial and dubious data;

Marxist historiography Marxist historiography, or historical materialist historiography, is an influential school of historiography. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography include the centrality of social class, social relations of production in class-divided s ...

derived from economic assumptions and class models that leave little room for the ideas and beliefs of contemporaries or the protagonists and events of history; psychoanalytic history dependent on theories and speculations that violate the accepted criteria of historical evidence; analytic history that reduces history to a series of isolated "moments" with no overriding narrative structure;

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

, "history from the bottom", that denigrates the role of politics, nationality, and individuals (the " great men" of history); and, later, postmodernist history, which denies even the ideal of objectivity, viewing all of history as a "social construct" on the part of the historian. Himmelfarb criticized A.J.P. Taylor for seeking to "demoralize" history in his 1961 book '' The Origins of the Second World War'', and for refusing to recognize "moral facts" about interwar Europe. Himmelfarb maintained that Taylor was wrong to treat

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

as a "normal" German leader playing by the traditional rules of diplomacy in ''The Origins of the Second World War,'' instead of being a "world-historical" figure such as

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. Himmelfarb energetically rejected postmodern academic approaches:

Ideas

Himmelfarb was best known as a historian of

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

. Himmelfarb argued "for the reintroduction of traditional values such as shame, responsibility, chastity, and self-reliance, into American political life and policy-making".. In an obituary, David Brooks described Himmelfarb as "The Historian of Moral Revolution".

Bibliography

Books

*''Lord Acton: A Study of Conscience and Politics'' (1952) *'' Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution'' (1959)
online free
*''Victorian Minds'' (1968) *''On Liberty and Liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill'' (1974) *''The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age'' (1984)
online free
*''Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians'' (1986
online free
*''The New History and the Old'' (1987, 2004)
online free
*''Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians'' (1991)
online free
*''On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society'' (1994)
online free
*''The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values'' (1995) *''One Nation, Two Cultures'' (1999) *''The Moral Imagination: From Adam Smith to Lionel Trilling'' (2005), Rowman & Littlefield Publishers * *''The Moral Imagination: From Edmund Burke to Lionel Trilling'' (2006) *''The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot'' (2009) *''The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill'' (Encounter Books, 2011) * ;Edited *Lord Acton, ''Essays on Freedom and Power'' (Free Press, 1948) *Milton Himmelfarb, ''Jews and Gentiles'' (Encounter Books, 2007) *Irving Kristol, ''The Neoconservative Persuasion'' (Basic Books, 2011
online free
*Thomas Robert Malthus, ''Essay on Population'' (Modern Library, 1960) — as editor *John Stuart Mill, ''Essays on Politics and Culture'' (Doubleday, 1962) *John Stuart Mill, ''On Liberty'' (Penguin, 1974) *Alexis de Tocqueville, ''Memoir on Pauperism'' (Ivan Dee, 1997) *''The Spirit of the Age: Victorian Essays'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 2007)

Critical studies and reviews of Himmelfarb's work

;''Past and present'' *

References

Cited source

External links

* * * also Paul Johnson, Brian Lamb, Frank McCourt, Robert D. Richardson,

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual. West was an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election and is an ou ...

Simon Winchester Simon Winchester (born 28 September 1944) is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday (1972), Bloody Sunday and the Watergate S ...

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Himmelfarb, Gertrude 20th-century American historians 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American women writers American women historians Jewish American historians American intellectual historians American social historians Historians of the United Kingdom Historiographers Charles Darwin biographers Neoconservative writers Communist women writers American Trotskyists CUNY Graduate Center faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge University of Chicago alumni Brooklyn College alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni National Humanities Medal recipients New York (state) Republicans Historians from New York (state) Writers from Brooklyn American expatriates in the United Kingdom American people of Russian-Jewish descent Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States 1922 births 2019 deaths