Milward, Alan S. 1935-

views updated

MILWARD, Alan S. 1935-

PERSONAL: Born January 19, 1935; son of Joseph Thomas and Dorothy (Steele) Milward; married Claudine Jeanne Amelie Lemaitre, September, 1986 (marriage dissolved, 1994); married Frances Lynch, March 28, 1998; children: Maya; (first marriage) Colette Victoire Zoe; (second marriage) Laura Katherine Milward-Lynch. Education: University of London, B.A., 1956, Ph.D., 1960. Hobbies and other interests: Theater.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of History, European University Institute, Villa Schifanoia, Via Boccaccio 121, Florence, Italy 50133. E-mail[email protected].

CAREER: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, lecturer in economic history, 1960–65; University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, senior lecturer in economic history, 1965–67; Stanford University, Stanford, CA, associate professor of economics, 1967–71; University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, England, professor of European studies, 1971–83; European University Institute, Florence, Italy, professor of contemporary history, 1983–86, 1996–; University of London, London, England, professor of economic history, 1986–96.

MEMBER: British Academy (fellow), Economic History Society (England), Economic History Association (United States).

WRITINGS:

The German Economy at War, Humanities (Atlantic Highlands, NJ), 1965.

The New Order and the French Economy, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), 1970.

The Economic Effects of the Two World Wars on Britain, Macmillan (London, England), 1970.

The Fascist Economy in Norway, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), 1972.

(With S.B. Saul) The Economic Development of Continental Europe, 1780–1870, Rowman & Littlefield (Totowa, NJ), 1973.

(With S.B. Saul) The Development of the Economies of Continental Europe, 1870–1914, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1977.

War, Economy, and Society, 1939–1945, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1977.

(With others) The Frontier of National Sovereignty: History and Theory, 1945–1992, Routledge (London, England), 1993.

The European Rescue of the Nation-State, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1993, 2nd edition, Routledge (New York, NY), 2000.

(With George Brennan) Britain's Place in the World: A Historical Enquiry into Import Controls, 1945–1960, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996.

(Coeditor) Widening, Deepening, and Acceleration: The European Economic Community, 1957–1963, Nomos (Baden-Baden, Germany), 1999.

The Rise and Fall of a National Strategy, 1945–1963, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 2002.

The United Kingdom and the European Community, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 2002.

Politics and Economics in the History of the European Union, Routledge (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to journals in England, France, Germany, and Scandinavia.

SIDELIGHTS: Alan S. Milward is recognized as an authority on the economic history of Germany and other western European countries. He is, in fact, "widely and justly regarded as one of the half-dozen leading economic historians of our time," commented Susan Strange in the Times Literary Supplement. Milward coauthored The Frontier of National Sovereignty: History and Theory, 1945–1992, a book that charts the course of the regional integration of Europe during the latter half of the twentieth century. It was praised as a "remarkable volume" by Mark J. Miller in the International Migration Review.

Milward and coauthor George Brennan examined the ways that import control policies affected Great Britain's place on the world stage in their book Britain's Place in the World: A Historical Enquiry into Import Controls 1945–1960. It is generally held that Great Britain lost a great deal of power after World War II, and that the nation's slowness in coming to grips with that new reality caused many financial woes and inappropriate policymaking. Yet other economic theories have been advanced stating that Great Britain was evolving into a distinct new style of capitalism for two centuries previous to World War II. Milward and Brennan "bring new light to bear on this debate" with their in-depth study of the policy of import controls, according to Andrew Gamble, who reviewed the book for the Institute of Historical Research Web site. They "shed new light on the economic reasoning" that led the British government to reject the notion of an integrated Europe following World War II, and while their conclusions may remain "controversial," they at least provide "an important new angle from which to reflect on it."

Milward chronicled Great Britain's road to becoming part of the European Economic Community with The Rise and Fall of a National Strategy, 1945–1963, part of a projected multi-volume work. The book begins with the British decision to join the community, and examines Charles de Gaulle's decision that Britain's entry into the community should be delayed. Various policies and positions adopted through the decades are clarified, with Milward serving as "a sure guide through these tangles," commented M.R.D. Foot in the Spectator. Foot further commended the extensive research that went into this book, and the way Milward writes "with equal clarity and impartiality." Williams D. Rubinstein also gave the book high commendation in his Times Literary Supplement review, noting that although it runs more than 500 pages long, it is nevertheless "consistently gripping and illuminating."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1998, review of Britain's Place in the World: A Historical Enquiry into Import Controls, 1945–1960, p. 248.

Choice, February, 1995, review of The European Rescue of the Nation-State, p. 901; November, 2002, G. T. Potter, review of The United Kingdom and the European Community, p. 520.

International Migration Review, fall, 1998, Mark J. Miller, review of The Frontier of National Sovereignty: History and Theory, 1945–1992, p. 790.

Journal of Economic History, March, 1998, review of Britain's Place in the World, p. 521.

Journal of Economic Literature, March, 1997, review of Britain's Place in the World, p. 268; March, 1998, review of Britain's Place in the World, p. 272.

Journal of Modern History, March, 1995, review of The European Rescue of the Nation-State, p. 126.

London Review of Books, January 4, 1996, review of The European Rescue of the Nation-State, p. 13.

New Statesman and Society, December 11, 1992.

Reference and Research Book News, February, 1997, review of Britain's Place in the World, p. 43.

Spectator, August 31, 2002, M. R. D. Foot, review of The Rise and Fall of a National Strategy, 1945–1963, p. 31.

Times Literary Supplement, June 16, 1972; August 19, 1965; January 15, 1971; March 24, 1978; November 23, 1984; April 30, 1993; September 27, 2002, William D. Rubinstein, review of The United Kingdom and the European Community, p. 9.

ONLINE

Institute of Historical Research Web site, http://www.ihrinfo.ac.uk/ (February 11, 2003), Andrew Gamble, review of Britain's Place in the World.

About this article

Milward, Alan S. 1935-

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article