Captain Professor: A Life in War and Peace

michael eliot howard

Not since A.L. Rowse published his memoir On Historians has such a witty and perceptive memoir been published by a celebrated historian.

Captain Professor constitutes the memoir of one of the most distinguised British historians of the post war years, Professor Sir Michael Howard. Award the Military Cross in the Second World War, Howard recounts how between battles he befriended the young film director Franco Zefirelli, and fought the Germans in Italy with (the future Bishop) Simon Phipps and the (future) ballet critic Richard Buckle. In Oxford after the war, he gives delicious insights into academic life, including perceptive portraits of Hugh Trevor-Roper, Keith Thomas and A.L. Rowse.

Howard had a major influence on the strategic and defence policy of the country and made his name as a military historian. His influence on the study of history in schools and universities has been considerable, and he has been substantially responsible for the burgeoning of First World War studies, its history and its literature. He claims, however, that he eventually pipped many more obvious candidates to the post to become the royally-appointed Regius Professor of History because he was the only candidate that the Queen of England had heard of.

Genres historynonfictionworld war iibiography

232 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1,2006

This edition

Format: 232 pages, Hardcover
Published: August 26, 2006 by Continuum
ISBN: 9780826491251
ASIN: 0826491251
Language: English

About the author

michael eliot howard

Sir Michael Eliot Howard was an English military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War, Honorary Fellow of All Souls College, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University, and founder of the Department of War Studies, King's College London. In 1958, he co-founded the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
In 2013, Howard was described in the Financial Times as "Britain's greatest living historian". The Guardian described him as "Britain's foremost expert on conflict".