Richard Charles Cobb was a British historian. He became Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, after an initially unconventional academic career in which he spent a dozen years working as an independent scholar in French archives. His work was recognised in France by the award of membership of the Legion d'Honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

. He is known for his work on the background to the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, and for his autobiographical writings.

Principal works

• The People's Armies (1961) – First published in France as Les armées révolutionnaires; instrument de la terreur dans les départements, avril 1793-floréal An 2.; first English edition, 1987.
• Terreur et subsistances, 1783-1795 (1965)
• A Second Identity: Essays on France and French History (1969)
• The Police and the People: French Popular Protest, 1789-1820 (1970)
• Reactions to the French Revolution (1972)
• Paris and its provinces, 1792-1802 (1975)
• A Sense of Place (1975)
• A Classical Education (1975)
• Raymond Queneau (1976)
• Tour De France (1976)
• Death in Paris, 1795-1801 (1978)
• The Streets of Paris (1979)
• Promenades. A Historian's Appreciation of Modern French Literature (1980)
• French and Germans, Germans and French. A personal interpretation of France under two occupations, 1914-1918/1940-1944 (1983)
• Still Life: Sketches from a Tunbridge Wells Childhood (1983) - winner of the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography
  J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography
  The J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography is awarded annually by the English Centre for International PEN to given to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £1,000 and a silver pen. The winner...
  
  
• People and Places (1985)
• to Hold on to: autobiographical sketches (1988)

Posthumous publications

• The End of the Line: a memoir (1997)
• Paris and Elsewhere: selected writings (1998)
• Marseille (2001)

External links

• Cobb author page and archive from The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books
  The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...