Alexander Johnston: An Appreciation

摘要

ACENTURY ago few American historians enjoyed a largerreputation than Alexander Johnston of the Rutgers Collegeclass of 1870. As the Professor of Jurisprudence and PoliticalEconomy at the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) andas the author of several highly praised books and innumerablearticles, he had, within the span of a decade, achieved more thanmost scholars could expect to accomplish over a full lifetime. In1889, at the age of forty, he was dead. Although his writingscontinued to go through successive reprintings long after his untimelydeath, he is now an all but forgotten figure. But his briefcareer was so remarkable that it merits recounting here.