The first analysis of the life and thought of the writer Samuel Johnson from an historian's viewpoint.

List of illustrations; Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Politics, literature and the culture of humanism; 2. Johnson and the Anglo-Latin tradition; 3. The political culture of Oxford University, 1715-1768; 4. Johnson's career and the question of oaths, 1709-1758; 5. Johnson and the nonjurors; 6. Johnson's political conduct, 1737-1760; 7. Johnson's political opinions, 1760-1784; 8. Johnson's writings, 1760-1781; 9. 'Sophistry', 'indiscretion', 'falsehood': the denigration of Samuel Johnson, 1775-1832.