Peter P. Witonski on the Periodicals

“Marc Bloch,” by R. R. Davies (History, Vol. LII, No. 176, Fall 1967).

The attention given in recent years to the historical writings of Marc Bloch is one of the most heartening developments in the world of scholarship. Bloch’s seminal studies of rural history and the emergence of medieval society from the Roman world— not to mention his splendidly evocative study of the historian’s craft—are among the most important historical works of our century. Mr. Davies has written an excellent introduction to Bloch’s opera omnia, which will be of interest to all students of history. It was Bloch who rebelled against the pedantic style of the Parisian Ecole des Chartes, declaring: “There is no waste more criminal than that of erudition running … in neutral gear, nor any pride more vainly misplaced than that in a tool valued as an end in itself.” For Bloch history was not the mere study of documents (although he was a master of documentary exegesis), but the study of men in the past. His murder at the hands of the Gestapo in 1944 (his last words were “Vive la France”) robbed our era of one of its civilized voices.

PW

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Peter P. Witonski

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“Marc Bloch,” by R. R. Davies (History, Vol. LII, No. 176, Fall 1967).

The attention given in recent years to the historical writings of Marc Bloch is one of the most heartening developments in the world of scholarship. Bloch’s seminal studies of rural history and the emergence of medieval society from the Roman world— not to mention his splendidly evocative study of the historian’s craft—are among the most important historical works of our century. Mr. Davies has written an excellent introduction to Bloch’s opera omnia, which will be of interest to all students of history. It was Bloch who rebelled against the pedantic style of the Parisian Ecole des Chartes, declaring: “There is no waste more criminal than that of erudition running … in neutral gear, nor any pride more vainly misplaced than that in a tool valued as an end in itself.” For Bloch history was not the mere study of documents (although he was a master of documentary exegesis), but the study of men in the past. His murder at the hands of the Gestapo in 1944 (his last words were “Vive la France”) robbed our era of one of its civilized voices.