William Woodruff
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For the Upper Canada politician, see William Woodruff (Upper Canada politician).
William Woodruff (born 12 September 1916) is an eminent world historian, but is perhaps most noted for his two autobiographical works The Road to Nab End and its sequel Beyond Nab End; both became bestsellers in the UK. It should be noted that they contain significant amounts of social commentary about the conditions in which he lived. The biographic details in this article are drawn principally from these books.
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[edit] Biography
Woodruff was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. His parents were both cotton weavers by trade (although at the time of his birth his father was serving on the Western Front). The Road to Nab End vividly describes his upbringing and his family's fight to survive the Lancashire cotton industry's initial downturn in 1920, through its decline in the 1920s, and the community's slide into the Great Depression that followed. Woodruff contributed to his family's income, initially as a newspaper delivery boy before and after school. He entered the workforce as a "grocer's lad" (shop assistant) at the age of 14, and after several enforced changes of job decided to leave Lancashire for a promise of a job in London at the age of 16.
Beyond Nab End describes his life after arriving in London. He worked for two years as a ‘sand rat’ in an East End iron foundry (the sand being used to make moulds into which molten iron was poured). He attended night school, discovering a love of learning (or perhaps re-discovering, as there are clear indications that his grandmother Bridget, and other friendly adults, encouraged this love when he was younger). In 1936, with the aid of a London County Council scholarship, he went to Oxford University.
After meeting his first wife in Oxford, he fought during the Second World War with the 24th Guards Brigade of the British Army in North Africa and the Mediterranean region. His wartime experiences became the basis of his work Vessel of Sadness, which A. L. Rowse called one of the "most sensitive and moving books of the war, both authentic and poetic" in a review in the Times Literary Supplement.
At the end of 1945 he returned to the wife he had seen for "5 weeks in 5 years" and his eldest son, whom he had never met. His first wife died some years later, and Woodruff remarried in 1960.
In 1946 he renewed his studies in economic and world history at Oxford. In 1950 he became a research fellow supported by the Bank of England, and in 1952 he went as a Fulbright Scholar to Harvard University. After this he spent a period as a professor at the University of Illinois before moving in 1956 to head the Department of Economic History at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He followed this with various visiting professorships to Princeton, Berlin, Tokyo and Oxford (St. Antony's College). He was a Graduate Research Professor at the University of Florida from 1966 to his retirement in 1996.
[edit] Publications
His publications can be divided into three loose classifications: academic history, autobiographic works and fiction.
[edit] Academic history
In 1969 Woodruff published Impact of Western Man - A Study of Europe's Role in the World Economy, 1750-1960, a path-breaking work which explored the extrusive aspect of European history. A later publication was America's Impact on the World: A Study of the Role of the United States in the World Economy - 1750-1970. The interrelatedness of continents continues to be the focus of further studies. In November 2005 his Concise History of the Modern World was published in its 5th edition by Abacus (Time Warner) in London, ISBN 0-349-11837-X
[edit] Autobiographic works
- The Road To Nab End: A Lancashire Childhood, Abacus (Time Warner), 2000 (first published as Billy Boy, Ryburn Publishing Ltd., 1993). ISBN 0-349-11521-4
- Beyond Nab End, Abacus (Time Warner), 2003 ISBN 0-316-72530-7
[edit] Fiction
- Vessel of Sadness (drawn from his experiences during World War II). Gainesville: Kallman Publishing Co., 1969; London: Chatto and Windus, 1970; London: Abacus, 2004. ISBN 0-349-11811-6
- Paradise Galore, London: Dent and Sons, 1985
- Shadows of Glory, London: Abacus, 2003. ISBN 0-349-11689-X
