GRIFFITHS, Richard
Richard Griffiths is a historian and literary scholar, born in Wales in 1935, who has held university posts in Cambridge, Oxford, Cardiff and London.
He has published extensively on the European Right - Marshal Pétain (1970), Fellow Travellers of the Right (1980), The Use of Abuse: the Polemics of the Dreyfus Affair (1991), Patriotism Perverted (1998), An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Fascism (2000) and Fascism (2005). Another area has been Welsh social history – his The Entrepreneurial Society of the Rhondda Valleys is due for publication in 2009.
In literature, one of his main specialities has been French and British Catholic literature – The Reactionary Revolution: the Catholic Revival in French Literature (1966), Claudel: A Reappraisal (1968), Le Singe de Dieu: François Mauriac (1996) and Catholic Literature in Britain 1870-1970 (forthcoming, 2010),…
… though he has also written extensively on French sixteenth-century literature, He is an Anglican clergyman, and his devotional book Poetry and Prayer was the Mowbray Lent book for 2005.
On Fellow Travellers of the Right: ‘A book of high scholarship which is also very entertaining’ (A.J.P. Taylor); ‘this fascinating and highly original study’ (Ben Pimlott); ‘this sobering, witty and well-written book’ (Michael Ratcliffe); ‘Professor Griffiths’s excellent book has plenty of lessons for the 1980s’ (Richard Cobb).
QUOTES…
On Patriotism Perverted - “This fine book… Griffiths knows more about this topic than most other scholars in the field… a highly stimulating account” –Dan Stone
“The most comprehensive investigation so far into this fascinating movement” “–Andrew Roberts
On The Reactionary Revolution – “‘Mr Griffiths’s fascinating study… this scrupulous and sympathetic analysis” — James Joll
“An altogether remarkable study” –Pamela Hansford Johnson
“A fascinating study. His book is so absorbing, and such a genuine contribution to knowledge, that it can be warmly welcomed” –Bernard Bergonzi