Richard Hofstadter
Howe, Irving
THE DEATH OF RICHARD HOFSTADTER has been felt as a tragic loss, a harsh personal blow, not only by those who had been close to him but by colleagues, students, readers throughout the country. He...
...One felt his presence as morally luminous, for wherever he was, life seemed better...
...Over the years he honored us several times by allowing DISSENT to print sections of his work before these appeared in his books...
...His life shone with the virtues of liberal cordiality, humane considerateness, and vibrant compassion...
...He was a marvelous friend, sensitive to the needs of his colleagues, the moods of the troubled, the playfulness of animals, the sufferings of children...
...He wrote English prose with the assurance of a master...
...Everyone who knew him recognized that he was an exemplary man, and found in his distinction, at once so modest and secure, reason for happiness...
...He was a brilliant historian...
...And while his political views were at some points different from our own, we knew him as a sympathetic and attentive friend whose criticism was more valuable than the praise of others...
...IRVING HOWE...
...His ideas were his own, held with firmness but never fanaticism...
Vol. 18 • February 1971 • No. 1
