R.W. Johnson

R.W. Johnson is an emeritus fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he taught politics and sociology. His most recent book is South Africa’s Brave New World.

In the LRB Archive:

• Angry White Men: Obama’s Electoral Arithmetic · 20 October 2011

• Post-Post-Struggle: South Africa’s Elections · 19 May 2011

• Living on the Edge: Nukes · 28 April 2011

  • Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-49 by Jim Baggott
  • The Twilight of the Bombs: Recent Challenges, New Dangers and the Prospects for a World without Nuclear Weapons by Richard Rhodes
  • Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers by Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi

• A Man without Regrets: Lloyd George · 20 January 2011

  • David Lloyd George: The Great Outsider by Roy Hattersley

• Diary: World Cup Diary · 22 July 2010

• Sudanitis: Au coeur des ténèbres · 11 March 2010

  • The Killer Trail: A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa by Bertrand Taithe

• Diary: The World Cup · 17 December 2009

• Diary: Magdalen College · 19 November 2009

• A Formidable Proposition: D-Day · 10 September 2009

  • D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor

• Diary: ‘Author Loses Leg in Lagoon’ · 6 August 2009

• Responses to the War in Gaza · 29 January 2009

• End of the Road: The Undoing of the ANC · 20 November 2008

  • Cyril Ramaphosa by Anthony Butler
  • After the Party: A Personal and Political Journey inside the ANC by Andrew Feinstein
  • Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred by Mark Gevisser

• Short Cuts: Robbie Gets His Gun · 25 September 2008

• Where do we go from here?: in Zimbabwe · 8 May 2008

• Blame It on Mussolini: The Turning Points of the Second World War · 29 November 2007

  • Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World 1940-41 by Ian Kershaw

• Rivonia Days: remembering the trial · 16 August 2007

  • The State v. Nelson Mandela: The Trial That Changed South Africa by Joel Joffe

• Ducking and Dodging: Agent Zigzag · 19 July 2007

  • Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre

• Up the Garden Path: Michael Foot · 26 April 2007

  • Michael Foot: A Life by Kenneth O. Morgan

• In Time of Famine: In Zimbabwe · 22 February 2007

• Her Boy: Mark Thatcher · 16 November 2006

  • Thatcher’s Fortunes: The Life and Times of Mark Thatcher by Mark Hollingsworth and Paul Halloran
  • The Wonga Coup: The British Mercenary Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa by Adam Roberts

• Far from the Least Worst Alternative: the shortcomings of Neville Chamberlain · 17 August 2006

  • Neville Chamberlain: A Biography by Robert Self

• Young Brutes: the Amerys · 23 February 2006

  • Speaking for England: Leo, Julian and John Amery: The Tragedy of a Political Family by David Faber

• In Pyjamas: Bill Deedes’s Decency · 17 November 2005

  • Dear Bill: A Memoir by W.F. Deedes

• Find the birch sticks: a spy’s diary · 1 September 2005

  • The Guy Liddell Diaries. Vol. I: 1939-42 edited by Nigel West

• Burning Blankets: Robert Mugabe’s latest tidy-up · 7 July 2005

• Help Yourself: The other crooked Reggie · 21 April 2005

  • Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling by Lewis Baston

• Lords loses out: Basil D’Oliveira and racism in sport · 16 December 2004

  • Basil D’Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy: The Untold Story by Peter Oborne
  • Reflections on a Life in Sport by Sam Ramsamy and Edward Griffiths

• Really Very Exhilarating: Macmillan and the Guardsmen · 7 October 2004

  • The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made by Simon Ball

• Associated Prigs: Eleanor Rathbone · 8 July 2004

  • Eleanor Rathbone and the Politics of Conscience by Susan Pedersen

• Jingoes: Britain and South Africa since the Boer War · 6 May 2004

  • The Lion and the Springbok: Britain and South Africa since the Boer War by Ronald Hyam and Peter Henshaw

• Carry on up the Corner Flag: The sociology of football · 24 July 2003

  • Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe during the Second World War by Simon Kuper
  • Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football by Tom Bower

• Bad Timing: All about Eden · 22 May 2003

  • Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon 1897-1977 by D.R. Thorpe
  • The Macmillan Diaries: The Cabinet Years 1950-57 edited by Peter Catterall

• Just Had To: LBJ · 20 March 2003

  • The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Vol III: Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro

• Every Club in the Bag: Whitehall and Moscow · 8 August 2002

  • The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War by Peter Hennessy
  • Know Your Enemy: How the Joint Intelligence Committee Saw the World by Percy Cradock

• Don’t you carry?: going to ground in Zimbabwe · 25 April 2002

• Cads: Roosevelt’s Secret War: FDR and World War Two Espionage by Joseph Persico. · 4 April 2002

  • Roosevelt’s Secret War: FDR and World War Two Espionage by Joseph Persico

• 11 September · 4 October 2001

• How would Richelieu and Mazarin have coped?: Henry Kissinger · 20 September 2001

  • The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens

• Apocalypse Two: Rwanda’s genocide · 21 June 2001

  • A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda’s Genocide by Linda Melvern

• Diary · 10 May 2001

• Into the Second Term: New Labour · 5 April 2001

  • Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour by Andrew Rawnsley
  • Mandelson and the Making of New Labour by Donald Macintyre
  • Mo Mowlam: The Biography by Julia Langdon
  • Ann Widdecombe: Right from the Beginning by Nicholas Kochan
  • The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell and New Labour by Tom Bower
  • The Future of Politics by Charles Kennedy

• How Mugabe came to power: Wilfred Mhanda · 22 February 2001

• ‘Do they eat people here much still?’ ‘Rarement. Très Rarement.’: Thomas Hodgkin · 14 December 2000

  • Thomas Hodgkin: Letters from Africa, 1947-56 edited by Elizabeth Hodgkin and Michael Wolfers

• Bugger everyone: The prime ministers 1945-2000 · 19 October 2000

  • The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945 by Peter Hennessy

• After the Election: in Zimbabwe · 20 July 2000

• A Dangerous Occupation: The Land Wars of Southern Africa · 1 June 2000

• I’m all for it · 30 March 2000

  • Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII by John Cornwall

• South African Stories: in South Africa · 2 March 2000

• Nerds, Rabbits and a General Lack of Testosterone: Major and Lamont · 9 December 1999

  • The Autobiography by John Major
  • In Office by Norman Lamont

• Why there is no easy way to dispose of painful history: Truth, Lies and Reconciliation · 14 October 1999

  • The Truth about the Truth Commission by Anthea Jeffery

• An Unreliable Friend: Nelson Mandela · 19 August 1999

  • Mandela: The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson

• Diary: Goodbye Zimbabwe · 4 March 1999

• The Greatest Error of Modern History: Did the Kaiser get it right? · 18 February 1999

  • The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson

• Rogue’s Paradise: The Russians and the Anglo-Boer War by Apollon Davidson and Irina Filatova · 16 July 1998

  • The Russians and the Anglo-Boer War by Apollon Davidson and Irina Filatova

• Mister Sheppard to you on Classes and Cultures: England 1918-51 by Ross McKibbin · 21 May 1998

  • Classes and Cultures: England 1918-51 by Ross McKibbin

• Redheads in Normandy: The 1997 election · 22 January 1998

  • The British General Election of 1997 by David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh
  • Labour's Landslide by Andrew Geddes and Jonathan Tonge
  • Britain Votes 1997 edited by Pippa Norris and Neil Gavin
  • Collapse of Stout Party: The Decline and Fall of the Tories by Julian Crtitchley and Morrison Halcrow
  • Les Election Legislatives, 25 Mai-1er Juin 1997: Le president desavoue

• High Priest of Mumbo-Jumbo · 13 November 1997

  • Lord Hailsham: A Life by Geoffrey Lewis

• Mediterranean Man · 16 October 1997

  • Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd, translated by Benjamin Ivry

• Diary · 17 July 1997

• Stick to the Latin · 23 January 1997

  • Enoch Powell by Robert Shepherd

• The Ingenuity of Rural Life · 12 December 1996

  • The Seed Is Mine: The Life of Kas Maine, a South African Sharecropper, 1849-1985 by Charles van Onselen

• Digging up the Ancestors · 14 November 1996

  • Hugh Gaitskell by Brian Brivati

• On the Way to First Base · 17 October 1996

• End of an Elite · 21 March 1996

  • Slovo: The Unfinished Autobiography by Joe Slovo

• Famous Four · 30 November 1995

  • SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party by Ivor Crewe and Anthony King

• Fear in the Miracle Nation · 2 November 1995

  • The Liberal Slideaway by Jill Wentzel

• Diary · 3 August 1995

• Rubbing along in the neo-liberal way · 22 June 1995

• The Presidents’ Man · 25 May 1995

  • Foccart Parle: Entretiens avec Philippe Gaillard

• Megalo · 9 March 1995

  • The State We’re In by Will Hutton

• At the Skunk Works · 23 February 1995

  • Fool’s Gold: The Story of North Sea Oil by Christopher Harvie

• This Sporting Life · 8 December 1994

  • Iain Macleod by Robert Shepherd

• Enrichissez-Vous! · 20 October 1994

• The Greatest · 4 August 1994

  • Charles de Gaulle, Futurist of the Nation by Régis Debray, translated by John Howe
  • De Gaulle and 20th-Century France edited by Hugh Gough and John Horne
  • François Mitterrand: A Study in Political Leadership by Alistair Cole

• Here for the crunch · 28 April 1994

• Bevan’s Boy · 24 March 1994

  • Michael Foot by Mervyn Jones

• The Last Days of Bhambayi · 6 January 1994

• Schadenfreude · 2 December 1993

  • The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher

• Stitched up · 21 October 1993

  • Return to Paradise by Breyten Breytenbach

• Magical Socialism · 5 August 1993

• When that great day comes · 22 July 1993

• Beloved Country · 8 July 1993

• Nixon’s Greatest Moments · 13 May 1993

  • Nixon: A Life by Jonathan Aitken

• The Kennedy Boys · 28 January 1993

  • JFK: Life and Death of an American President. Vol. I: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

• So much was expected · 3 December 1992

  • Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott
  • Harold Wilson by Austen Morgan

• Cheered in the street, much as Charles or Di · 9 July 1992

• Ahead lies – what? · 12 March 1992

  • Paradigms Lost: The Post Cold War Era edited by Chester Hartman and Pedro Vilanova
  • The Crisis of Socialism in Europe edited by Christiane Lemke and Gary Marks

• Who’ll man the fax? · 13 February 1992

• What Buthelezi wants · 19 December 1991

• The Past and Future of the South African Communist party · 24 October 1991

• Aids in South Africa · 12 September 1991

• Lions, Princes, Bosses · 15 August 1991

• Rowley Arenstein, friend of Mandela, supporter of Buthelezi, talks to R.W. Johnson · 21 February 1991

• Further Left · 16 August 1990

  • Prepared for the worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports by Christopher Hitchens
  • Blood, Class and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies by Christopher Hitchens

• R.W. Johnson pays his respects to Mrs Luthuli · 19 April 1990

• Moooovement · 8 February 1990

  • Resources of Hope: Culture, Democracy, Socialism by Raymond Williams, edited by Robin Gable
  • The Alien Mind of Raymond Williams by Jan Gorak
  • Raymond Williams: Writing, Culture, Politics by Alan O’Connor
  • Raymond Williams on Television: Selected Writings edited by Alan O’Connor
  • News from Nowhere: No 6. Raymond Williams: Third Generation edited by Tony Pinkney
  • Raymond Williams: Critical Perspectives edited by Terry Eagleton

• R.W. Johnson writes about a national disgrace · 6 July 1989

  • Who Framed Colin Wallace? by Paul Foot

• Is this successful management? · 20 April 1989

  • One of Us: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher by Hugo Young

• The Revolution is over · 16 February 1989

  • The Permanent Revolution: The French Revolution and its Legacy 1789-1989 edited by Geoffrey Best

• Via Mandela · 5 January 1989

  • Higher than Hope: ‘Rolihlahla we love you’ by Fatima Meer

• Black on Black · 24 November 1988

• Scenes from South African Life · 13 October 1988

• Pallas · 7 July 1988

  • The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy by Tom Nairn

• Lordspeak · 2 June 1988

  • Passion and Cunning, and Other Essays by Conor Cruise O’Brien
  • God Land: Reflections on Religion and Nationalism by Conor Cruise O’Brien

• Doctor Feelgood · 3 March 1988

  • Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home by Garry Wills

• Diary · 10 December 1987

• Public Enemy · 26 November 1987

  • Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover by Richard Gid Powers

• Peter Wright, Judges and Journalists · 3 September 1987

• Going for Gould · 23 July 1987

  • Apocalypse 2000: Economic Breakdown and the Suicide of Democracy 1989-2000 by Peter Jay and Michael Stewart

• There’s always shopping to be done · 9 July 1987

  • The Age of Terrorism by Walter Laqueur
  • The Baader-Meinhof Group: The Inside Story of a Phenomenon by Stefan Aust, translated by Anthea Bell

• Subversions · 4 June 1987

  • Traitors: The Labyrinths of Treason by Chapman Pincher
  • The Secrets of the Service: British Intelligence and Communist Subversion 1939-51 by Anthony Glees
  • Freedom of Information – Freedom of the Individual? by Clive Ponting, John Ranelagh, Michael Zander and Simon Lee, edited by Julia Neuberger

• Their Affair and Our Affair · 23 April 1987

  • The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus by Jean-Denis Bredin, translated by Jeffrey Mehlman
  • Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France by Zeev Sternhell, translated by David Maisel

• Why Barbie may never be tried · 5 March 1987

  • The People’s Anger: Justice and Revenge in Post-Liberation France by Herbert Lottman

• Rising Moon · 18 December 1986

  • L’Empire Moon by Jean-Francois Boyer
  • The Rise and Fall of the Bulgarian Connection by Edward Herman and Frank Brodhead

• Secondary Targeting · 23 October 1986

  • ‘The target is destroyed’: What really happened to Flight 007 by Seymour Hersh

• Le Grand Jacques · 9 October 1986

  • Jacques Doriot: Du Communisme au Fascisme by Jean-Paul Brunet

• Apartheid’s Apocalypse · 3 July 1986

  • South Africa without Apartheid by Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley
  • Move your shadow: South Africa Black and White by Joseph Lelyveld
  • Capitalism and Apartheid: South Africa 1910-1984 by Merle Lipton
  • The Militarisation of South African Politics by Kenneth Grundy

• Reasons of State · 5 June 1986

  • The ‘Rainbow Warrior’ Affair by Richard Shears and Isobelle Gidley
  • Sink the ‘Rainbow’: An Inquiry into the Greenpeace Affair by John Dyson
  • La Piscine: Les Services Secrets Français 1944-1984 by R. Faligot and P. Krop

• Diary · 8 May 1986

• Proportional Representation casts a shadow over France · 23 January 1986

• Seven Days · 4 July 1985

  • The Pick of Paul Johnson: An Anthology

• Mendès · 20 June 1985

  • Pierre Mendès France by Jean Lacouture, translated by George Holoch

• Making things happen · 6 September 1984

  • The Missing Dimension: Governments and Intelligence Communities in the 20th Century edited by Christopher Andrew and David Dilks

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