Abstract

A memoir of J. G. A. Pocock derived from his correspondence with Quentin Skinner between 1965 and 2020. The letters follow the development of Pocock’s career from his early years in New Zealand to his move to the United States in 1966 and his long period of teaching at Johns Hopkins University. Among the topics covered are the gestation and publication of Pocock’s most famous book, The Machiavellian Moment, and the evolution of his six-volume study of Gibbon’s history, Barbarism and Religion. Much new light is also cast on Pocock’s personality, family life, relations with colleagues, and political beliefs.