Thinking Back: The Perils of Writing History [Book Review]

Abstract

This elegant, witty, and cagy book falls into no established category. Part intellectual autobiography, part historiographical debate, part reflections on a career of engaged accomplishment, Thinking Back seems to me, as a student and friend of Woodward's and therefore not entirely nonpartisan, an essay of irresistable charm. Woodward's job during World War II was making sense of naval battle reports. Here, he summarizes intellectual conflicts, with an eye to shaping the terms in which his life's work will ultimately be seen. Too subtle to engage in straightforward apologetics, he is more concerned with explaining the circumstances in which his major books were produced and with making clear what he intended, generally and in detail, in each. Disarmingly generous to some critics, especially younger ones, he is cooly withering toward others.