Twilight of the Dons
British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Princeton University Press
Published:23rd Jun '26
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The rise to power and eventual fall from grace of the Oxbridge intellectual
After World War II, the academics of Oxford and Cambridge—the dons—formed an unusual kind of university-based, establishment-connected intelligentsia. Unlike intellectuals in other countries, often anti-establishment outsiders, the dons of Oxbridge enjoyed secure and even cosy connections with those in power. In Twilight of the Dons, Colin Kidd examines the golden age of Britain’s Oxford- and Cambridge-based intellectual elites—and how their influence waned when Oxbridge’s links to the establishment began to fray. Kidd explores a series of episodes and themes that range from the dons’ confrontations with student protesters in the 1960s to their reaction to the rise of Thatcherism in the 1980s. The cast of characters includes many of twentieth-century Britain’s most famous intellectuals—Elizabeth Anscombe, Isaiah Berlin, Edmund Leach, J. H. Plumb and Hugh Trevor-Roper, to name just a few.
Kidd describes the multiple important roles played by dons in World War II, the countercultural force of convert Catholicism and the strange phenomenon of Tory Marxism. He examines the dons’ attitudes towards America and France—as seen in their engagement in the debates over the Kennedy assassination and the awkward reception of Lévi-Strauss’s anthropology. When Oxbridge came under assault, it was first by a modernising, technocratic Left in the early 1960s, then by student radicals in the late 1960s and finally by the Thatcherite Right—in whose rise, Kidd shows, some dons were complicit. As deference to Oxbridge intelligentsia declined, a reassessment of the place of dons in British public life began.
"A rich history of Britain’s academic leaders and their fall from grace and power." * Kirkus Reviews *
"A history of academic life stands and falls by the number and quality of its anecdotes. On this count, Colin Kidd’s Twilight of the Dons unquestionably delivers."---Nikhil Krishnan, Spectator
"Kidd is one of our most brilliant intellectual historians and this book displays all his characteristic qualities: depth of research, command of argument and a seemingly effortless ability to distil complex ideas into stylish prose. Both his general analysis of postwar Oxbridge and the individual essays on particular themes are outstanding works of history as well as a delight to read."---William Whyte, Literary Review
"[A] disparate, nuanced, and fascinating set of essays that amount to more than the sum of their parts. . . . It is among the ironies of history that the ‘golden age’ of Britain’s ancient universities was brought to an end by a Conservative government. And yet, good work is still being done in British academia as this original, thought-provoking book by a fellow of All Souls shows."---Tim Bouverie, Air Mail
"The book’s relevance reaches far beyond the hallowed halls of Britain’s storied universities."---Marie Le Conte, Foreign Policy
"This elegant and entertaining book is both a scrutiny of and lament for a world we have lost."---Eamon Duffy, The London Standard
"[A] searching new account of Oxbridge intellectual life."---David Shribman, Globe and Mail
"[Twilight of the Dons] charts the fortunes of the intellectual leaders at Oxbridge during their golden age in the postwar period in glorious detail. . . . Despite having fewer glamorous dons, the reputation of Oxbridge endures, doubtlessly helped by its enchanting history, so brilliantly portrayed by Kidd in this entertaining book."---Max Skjönsberg, Law & Liberty
"Minutely researched, Twilight of the Dons breaks new ground in showing how their golden age was a by-product of their part in the Second World War."---John Gray, New Statesman
"Colin Kidd’s intriguing new history of Oxbridge intellectual life, Twilight of the Dons, explains the snub not as a powerful display of academic censure, but as the death throes of a declining cultural force."---Tristram Hunt, Financial Times
"Stylish, erudite. . . . [and] enlivened by flashes of humour."---Richard Vinen, Times Literary Supplement
ISBN: 9780691188768
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 612g
288 pages