Cowling, Maurice John (1926–2005)
© Cambridge Newspapers Ltd
Cowling was a leading historian of 'high politics', a revisionist approach which concentrated on the interaction between elites as the source of political change, and whose main exponents at Cambridge were known as the 'Peterhouse School'. His brand of anti-Whig, anti-secular history is seen by some as being extremely influential in the revival of right-wing ideology in the 1970s.
- Forenames:
- Maurice John
- Surname:
- Cowling
- Dates:
- 1926–2005
- Institutions:
- Salisbury Group
University of Cambridge (Peterhouse) - Significant posts:
- Lecturer, University of Cambridge (Peterhouse)
- Influences:
- Butterfield, Herbert
- Contemporaries:
- Bentley, Michael
Vincent, John
Norman, Edward - Influenced:
- Clark, Jonathan
Portillo, Michael - Themes:
- High politics
Peterhouse School
Political history
- Biographies:
- Interviews with Historians
- Obituaries:
-
Guardian
Independent
Telegraph
Times
Bibliography
Personal papers
Significant publications
- Maurice Cowling, Mill and Liberalism (Cambridge, 1963)
- Maurice Cowling, The Nature and Limits of Political Science (Cambridge, 1963)
Other reading
- Richard Brent, 'Butterfield's Tories: "high politics"' and the writing of modern British political history', Historical Journal, 30, 4 (1987), 943–54
