Letters from Oxford

In 1947, 33-year-old historian Hugh Trevor-Roper and 82-year-old world-famous art critic Bernard Berenson met for the first time. Trevor-Roper promised to write to Berenson, and his letters continued until his friend, frail but still intensely curious about the world, died in 1959. Elegantly constructed, beautifully and precisely written, Trevor-Roper's correspondences are shot through with high-octane malice, sharp judgments, blistering comments, and many wonderfully funny episodes. From meeting Communist dignitaries behind the Iron Curtain to speeding in his glamorous gray Bentley to visit duchesses in the Scottish borders, this collection sets a tone of amusement at the "human comedy"—the vanity, snobbery, intrigue, and human weakness that Trevor-Roper saw all around him.