William L. Langer (1896–1977)

This book means the world to me. When I graduated from college (sometime in misty haze of the past), I was the top graduate on both of my majors. When I was called to the stage for my history degree, the chair of the department, much to my surprise, handed me a fancy wrapped package. Once back in my seat, I opened it to find this book inside. All the history professors inscribed it for me.
I must confess that throughout my academic career I half expected a professor or fellow student to have an epiphany, thus realizing I was fraud who somehow had everybody fooled into thinking I was anything other than an intellectual fraud. Sitting there in the quad that lovely graduation day, I felt a bit of that fear beginning to lift.… (mehr)

4451 Political and Social Upheaval,1832-18553, by William L. Langer (read 21 Jun 2008) I finished this magisterial book today, June 21, 2008. I am tremendously impressed by the thoroughness with which Langer covers the period. This is a volume in the series "The Rise of Modern Europe" which he edited, and is the only volume in the series which he himself authored.. There are 18 volumes in the series, and this is the 5th one I have read. Not only are the political and economic events of the period fully covered, but the chapters on Literature and The Arts are a joy to read, since Langer was a historian who knew things about those subjects also. The period covers the momentous year of 1848 and after reading the chapters thereon I have a renewed interest in that important year. This is a great book, and I wish I had read it when it was published in 1969. Now the references and bibliographical essay are of course somewhat dated--but that surely isn't Langer's fault. [He died 26 Dec 1977.]… (mehr)