SOURCE: A review of Intellectuals, in History, Vol. 76, No. 246, February, 1991, pp. 86–87.

In the following review of Intellectuals, Briggs finds shortcomings in Johnson's “highly selective” subject matter and his failure to provide an adequate definition of an intellectual.

In this book [Intellectuals] Paul Johnson reveals—or rather displays—intense distaste for intellectuals even though he has strong claims to be considered one of them. He provides no clear definition, however, of what an intellectual is, and is highly selective in his choice of both themes and of evidence. There is little in the book about ideas as such, although claims are made about their influence, claims which are unrelated to other factors, for example interests, which may account for their acceptance and their intensity. Johnson begins with Rousseau and includes later chapters or sections on Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Brandt, Russell, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, Cyril...