One of the great missionaries of classical learning and American freedom passed away over the weekend. J. Rufus Fears was David Ross Boyd Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma, where he held the G. T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty. He also served as David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a state policy think tank based in Oklahoma City. Dr. Fears was a distinguished scholar of the classics and edited the three-volume collection of the writings of Lord Acton, whom Fears greatly admired as a tireless defender of liberty and prescient critic of statism in Europe.
I listened to his History of Freedom tapes. They were great. "Professorial" is not always derogatory, or should not be. --TS
Acton was an interesting cove - very liberal (British sense) but apparently siding with the Confederates in the late unpleasantness. Do you happen to know a good internet source on his views on that?
Posted by: dearieme | October 09, 2012 at 01:28 AM