British historian (London, 1948 to New York, 2010), a specialist in twentieth-century Europe who taught for years at New York University and wrote as a public intellectual, not just for colleagues.
ALS paralysed him in his last two years, and he kept working anyway, dictating. The result was Algo va mal (Ill Fares the Land, 2010), a defence of social democracy published shortly before his death. Writing a book about the common good when you can no longer move your hands: that’s a way to go out.