Gordon A. Craig

Initially interested in studying the law, he switched to history after hearing the historian Walter "Buzzer" Hall lecture at Princeton University.

Both the grandiose barbarism of his political vision and the moral emptiness of his character make it impossible to compare him in any meaningful way with any other German leader.

[1]Craig graduated in history from Princeton University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1938, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain and in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.

After 1945, Craig worked as a consultant to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps.

During his time at Stanford, Craig was considered to be a popular and innovative teacher who improved both undergraduate and graduate teaching, while remaining well liked by the students.

Craig was particularly noted for his contribution to the Oxford History of Modern Europe series entitled Germany, 1866–1945 and its companion volume, The Germans.

The latter was a wide-ranging cultural history that explored aspects of being German, such as attitudes towards German-Jewish relations, money, students, women, and democracy, amongst others.

Increasingly interested in cultural history in his later years, Craig subsequently wrote studies of several German writers, most notably Theodor Fontane.

He was very fond of German literature, and praised the novels of Theodor Fontane as the best portrayal of 19th century Germany, which he considered superior to many works produced by historians.