Background
Thomas, Keith Vivian was born on January 2, 1933 in Wick, Glamorgan, United Kingdom. Son of Vivian Jones and Hilda Janet Eirene (Davies) Thomas.
( Witchcraft, astrology, divination, and every kind of po...)
Witchcraft, astrology, divination, and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140137440/?tag=2022091-20
(In this detailed, scholarly and immensely facsinating boo...)
In this detailed, scholarly and immensely facsinating book, Sir Keith Thomas has analysed the thoughts and practices of an age when the supernatural was such a real and important part of men's lives.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684145421/?tag=2022091-20
(Throughout the ages man has struggled with his perceived ...)
Throughout the ages man has struggled with his perceived place in the natural world. The idea of humans cultivating the Earth to suit specific needs is one of the greatest points of contention in this struggle. For how would have civilization progressed, if not by the clearance of the forests, the cultivation of the soil, and the conservation of wild landscape into human settlement? Yet what of the healing powers of unexploited nature, its long-term importance in the perpetuation of human civilization, and the inherent beauty of wild scenery? At no time were these questions addressed as pointedly and with such great consequence as in England between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries. "Between 1500 and 1800 there occurred a whole cluster of changes in the way in which men and women, at all social levels, perceived and classified the natural world around them," explains Keith Thomas. "New sensibilities arose toward animals, plants, and landscape. The relationship of man to other species was redefined; and his right to exploit those species for his own advantage was sharply challenged." Man and the Natural World aims not just to explain present interest in preserving the environment and protecting the rights of animals, but to reconstruct an earlier mental world. Thomas seeks to expose the assumptions beneath the perceptions, reasonings, and feelings of the inhabitants of early modern England toward the animals, birds, vegetation, and physical landscape among which they spent their lives, often in conditions of proximity which are now difficult for us to appreciate. It was a time when a conviction of man's ascendancy over the natural world gave way to a new concern for the environment and sense of kinship with other species. Here, for example, Thomas illustrates the changing attitudes toward the woodlands. John Morton observed in 1712, "In a country full of civilized inhabitants" timber could not be "suffered
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195111222/?tag=2022091-20
(The publication of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biog...)
The publication of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in September 2004 was an event of great literary and scholarly importance. In his Leslie Stephen Lecture, commemorating the founder of the original Dictionary of National Biography, the celebrated historian Keith Thomas surveys the many earlier attempts at collective biography, considers the relationship of the Oxford DNB to them, and offers a preliminary assessment of it. The author, who has been chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the Oxford DNB since its inception, writes with intimate knowledge of the project.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521671183/?tag=2022091-20
(Religion and the Decline of Magic by Thomas, Keith [Pengu...)
Religion and the Decline of Magic by Thomas, Keith [Penguin Global, 2012] (Pa...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MDAG1NA/?tag=2022091-20
(High quality two volume set published by The Folio Societ...)
High quality two volume set published by The Folio Society London.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MMUFRYA/?tag=2022091-20
Thomas, Keith Vivian was born on January 2, 1933 in Wick, Glamorgan, United Kingdom. Son of Vivian Jones and Hilda Janet Eirene (Davies) Thomas.
Master of Arts, Oxford University, England, 1959. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Williams College, 1988. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Oglethorpe University, 1996.
Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Kent, 1983. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Wales, 1987. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Sheffield, 1992.
Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Cambridge. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Hull, 1995. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Leicester, 1996.
Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Sussex, 1996. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Warwick, 1998. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University London, 2006.
Fellow All Souls College, Oxford, 1955-1957, since 2001. Fellow and tutor St. John's College, 1957-1985. Reader in modern history University Oxford, United Kingdom, 1978-1985, professor modern history United Kingdom, 1986.
President Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1986-2000. Pro vice-chancellor Oxford University, 1988-2000. Visiting professor Louisiana State University, 1970, visiting fellow, 1978.
Lawrence Stone visiting professor Princeton University, 2001, Kratter University. Professor Stanford University, 2004. Visiting fellow Heynen Center, Columbia University, 2008.
Delaware Oxford University Press, 1980-1900, chairman finance committee, 1988-1900. With Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1950-1952.
( Witchcraft, astrology, divination, and every kind of po...)
(In this detailed, scholarly and immensely facsinating boo...)
(The publication of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biog...)
(Throughout the ages man has struggled with his perceived ...)
(Religion and the Decline of Magic by Thomas, Keith [Pengu...)
(High quality two volume set published by The Folio Societ...)
(Pantheon Books, New York.)
Author: Religion and the Decline of Magic, 1971 (Wolfson prize 1972), Rule and Misrule in the Schools of Early Modern England, 1976, Age and Authority in Early Modern England, 1976, Man and the Natural World, 1983, The Perception of the Past in Early Modern England, 1984, History and Literature, 1989, Changing Conceptions of National Biography, 2005. Editor: (with Donald Pennington) Puritans and Revolutionaries, 1978, Opus Books, Past Masters series, The Oxford Book of Work, 1999, (with Andrew Adonis) Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective, 2004. Consultant editor: Dictionary of National Biography 1986-1990, 1996.Chairman supervisory committee, Oxford Dictionary National Biography, 1999-2004, 2008. Member editorial board Past and Present, Ecumene, Prometeo. Contributor chapters to books, articles to professional journals.
Member review committee Export of Works of Art, 1989—1992. Trustee The National Gallery, London, 1991—1998, The British Museum, London, 1999—2008. Member Royal Commission History Manuscripts, 1992—2002, Economic and Science Research Council, London, 1985—1990.
Fellow British Academy (president 1993-1997), Royal History Society (literary director 1970-1974, vice president 1980-1984, honorary vice president since 2001). Member American Academy Arts and Sciences (foreign honorary member), Academia Europaea.
Visiting second-hand bookshops.
Married Valerie June Little, August 16, 1961. Children: Emily Joanna, Edmund Vivian.