Mises Wire

Harry Elmer Barnes, RIP

Harry Elmer Barnes, RIP

Murray Rothbard writes:

All persons leave an irreplaceable gap when they die; but this gap is truly enormous in the case of Harry Barnes (1889-1968), for in so many ways he was the Last of the Romans. More specifically, he was the last of the founders of the "New History," that movement at the turn of the century which, headed by Barnes's friends and mentors Charles A. Beard, Carl L. Becker, and James Harvey Robinson, virtually founded the profession of historian in America and placed its entire stamp on historiography until the advent of World War II. And Harry Barnes was the last of the truly erudite historians. In a field of accelerating narrowness and specialization where the expert on France in the 1830s is likely to know next to nothing about what happened to France in the 1840s, Harry Barnes ranged over the entire field of historical study and vision.

FULL ARTICLE

All Rights Reserved ©
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
Support Liberty

The Mises Institute exists solely on voluntary contributions from readers like you. Support our students and faculty in their work for Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.

Donate today
Group photo of Mises staff and fellows