Edmund Fawcett

Edmund Fawcett (born 31 May 1946) is a British political journalist and author. He worked at The Economist (1973-2003) as chief correspondent in Washington, Paris, Berlin and Brussels, as well as European and literary editor. In a long career covering international politics, he wrote about the growth of the European Union, democratisation in Spain, Portugal and Greece, the end of the Cold War, Germany's unification and the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. In the United States, he travelled widely, followed three presidential campaigns and wrote about the decline of detente in the late 1970s together with the rise of Reaganism. His frequent book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Guardian and New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement and Political Quarterly.

Edmund Fawcett
Born (1946-05-31) 31 May 1946
NationalityBritish
OccupationWriter
Notable work
Liberalism: The Life of an Idea
Parent(s)James Fawcett
Frances Lowe
Relatives

His book Liberalism: The Life of an Idea was published in 2014, with an updated, expanded second edition in 2018.[1] Fawcett argues that liberalism is a "modern practice of politics" with a specific history, rather than a fixed and unchanging philosophy.[2] He has described himself as a 'left-liberal or liberal leftist'.[2]

The historian Peter Clarke in the Financial Times called Liberalism (2nd edition) "a liberal history, well-founded in its scholarship and also accessibly expounded".[3] The Guardian praised Liberalism as a "remarkable book", and "a helpful characterisation of liberalism".[4] The Wall Street Journal called the book a "fine work of intellectual history".[5] Jack MacLeod, writing in the journal Victorian Studies, said the book "makes a major contribution to our understanding of a concept that, for two centuries, has been central to Western political and cultural thought".[6]

Born at West Ham in 1946,[7] Fawcett is the son of the human rights lawyer and international law professor James Fawcett, brother of the artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl, and maternal uncle of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, journalist Rachel Johnson, and politician Jo Johnson. He is married to Natalia Jiménez, granddaughter of Alberto Jiménez Fraud, the Spanish liberal and founding director of the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, who left Spain as a political refugee in 1936. Their son Marlowe is a video-maker and co-director of The Other Half (2006). A younger son, Elias, died in 1996.

Fawcett's book, The American Condition, written with a fellow journalist, Tony Thomas, came out in 1981. It was published in Britain as America, Americans. Fawcett also writes for Aeon,[8] openDemocracy,[9] Salon,[10] and other websites. His book, "Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition" is to be published in autumn 2020 by Princeton University Press.[11]

References
  1. Fawcett, Edmund (2014). Liberalism: The Life of an Idea. Princeton University Press. p. 293.
  2. Derbyshire, Jonathan. "Liberalism—the life of an idea: a conversation with Edmund Fawcett". Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  3. Clarke, Peter. Financial Times, (2018-12-21). "What does it mean to be liberal?" https://www.ft.com/content/9641c6de-e828-11e8-8827-ff56e7163c11}}
  4. Waldron, Jeremy (2016-01-29). "Liberalism: The Life of an Idea by Edmund Fawcett review – what is a liberal?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  5. Hay, William Anthony (2014-07-23). "Book Review: 'Liberalism: The Life of an Idea' by Edmund Fawcett". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  6. MacLeod, Jock (2016-12-21). "Liberalism: The Life of an Idea by Edmund Fawcett (review)". Victorian Studies. 58 (4): 719–721. ISSN 1527-2052.
  7. "Fawcett Edmund T / Lowe" in Register of Births for West Ham Registration District, vol. 4a (1946), p. 30
  8. "Liberal ideals are not yet dead, but more relevant than ever – Edmund Fawcett | Aeon Essays". Aeon. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  9. Fawcett, Edmund. "Edmund Fawcett". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  10. "Salon.com | News, Politics, Business, Technology & Culture". www.salon.com. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
  11. "Edmund Fawcett". Felicity Bryan Associates. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
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