Description
Book SynopsisThrough a unique set of documents never before published, this volume revisits the public furore when, at its Annual General Meeting forty years ago, the British Academy chose not to expel from its Fellowship the eminent art historian, Professor Anthony Blunt, who had recently been exposed as a former Soviet spy. The facsimile documents illustrate the intensely held views of leading academics as they wrestled with the question of whether considerations of pure scholarship could remain aloof from a revelation of political treachery. Also revealed is one faction''s plot to stir up a public row through the national press - a tactic that was ultimately successful in achieving Blunt''s resignation from the Academy.Historian and current President of the British Academy, David Cannadine, provides the background to the Blunt story, and portrays some of the main characters: Kenneth Dover, the President at the time who struggled to steer the Academy through the crisis; the historian J.H. Plumb,
Table of ContentsPreface Notes of the documents and sources Prologue Documentary narrative Epilogue Index of Fellows and Staff at the British Academy General Index
