David Goodway (born 1942) is a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and a respected international authority on Chartism and on

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and

libertarian socialism Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other ...

Life

Goodway was born in the English Midlands town of Rugby in September 1942. He studied

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His doctoral thesis was supervised by the renowned historian

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...

and formed the basis of his first book on the history of Chartism in London, '' London Chartism'', an acknowledged classic work on the subject. He has had a long-running interest in the Chartist George Julian Harney and discovered that a considerable portion of Harney's personal library is held at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He taught at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

from 1969 to 2005. Goodway has had a lifelong engagement with literature and in 1969 was a founder member of the Powys Society, which promotes the appreciation and study particularly of John Cowper Powys. He has edited the correspondence between Powys and the American anarchist

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...

. He has also written widely about writers in the British left libertarian tradition, such as William Morris, Alex Comfort,

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read wa ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

, Colin Ward and Maurice Brinton - notably in his book '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward''. In 2015, he became a member of the Friends of Freedom Press Ltd, which safeguards the interest of the anarchist publisher the Freedom Press. He wrote an appreciation of the anarchist journal ''

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

'' when it stopped regular publication after almost 130 years.

Selected publications

* '' London Chartism, 1838–1848'' (1982) * '' For Anarchism: History, Theory, and Practice'' (editor) (1989) * ''Against Power and Death: The Anarchist Articles and Pamphlets of Alex Comfort'' (editor)(1994) * ''A One-Man Manifesto and Other Writings for Freedom Press by Herbert Read'' (editor) (1994) * ''Herbert Read Reassessed'' (editor) (1998) * ''Talking Anarchy'' (with Colin Ward) (2003, 2nd edition 2014) * ''For Workers' Power: The Selected Writings of Maurice Brinton'' (editor) (2004, 2nd edition 2020) * '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward'' (2006, 2nd edition 2012) * ''The Letters of John Cowper Powys and Emma Goldman'' (editor) (2007) * Nicolas Walter, ''The Anarchist Past and Other Essays'' (editor) (2007) * ''John Cowper Powys, The Art of Forgetting the Unpleasant and Other Essays'' (editor) (2008) * Nicolas Walter, ''Damned Fools in Utopia and Other Writings on Anarchism and War Resistance'' (editor) (2011) * ''The Real History of Chartism: or eight fallacies about the Chartist movement'' (2013) * George Julian Harney, ''The Chartists were Right: selections from the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 1890-97'' (editor) (2014) * G.D.H. Cole, ''Towards a Libertarian Socialism: reflections on the British Labour Party and European working-class movements'' (editor) (2021)

References

External links

Website including unpublished writings by David Goodway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodway, David Living people Historians of anarchism 1942 births English historians English anarchists Academics of the University of Leeds