Toynbee was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and was a tutor there from 1912 to 1915. Subsequently, he became professor of Byzantine and modern Greek language, literature, and history at London University (1919–1924) and then for thirty years held the post of director of studies in the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He wrote on a wide variety of topics concerning Greek history, international politics, and contemporary affairs, but his main work was his A Study of History, the first ten volumes of which were published between 1934 and 1954. As of 1967, two other volumes appeared, the last, titled Reconsiderations, being largely an attempt to meet points raised by his numerous critics and, where he has thought it necessary, to qualify previous claims in the light of their objections. Toynbee always listened carefully to those who have disagreed with him, although he has apparently never felt that their observations justified any major revision of his views.
A Study of History
Toynbee claimed that his project was first suggested to him when, at the beginning of World War I, he became aware of certain striking affinities between the courses taken by the Greco-Roman and modern European civilizations.
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