Gertrude Himmelfarb’s History of Morality

A historian whose work exhibited a striking combination of breadth, depth, and perspicacity, the late Gertrude Himmelfarb focused her scholarship on the history of morals and manners from the 18th century to the present. While hardly sanguine about the future of America in the face of the “moral revolution” of the middle of the 20th century, she hoped that what she called the “dissident culture” of religious tradition could counteract the “demoralization of society.” She also devoted much of the latter part of her life to writing about Victorian attitudes toward Jews and Judaism. William Kristol, Matthew Continetti, Jerry Muller, and Samuel Moyn discuss her ideas and their continued relevance. (Moderated by Alan Levine. Video, 1 hour and 50 minutes.)