Barrington Moore Jr.
On October 16, 2005, the scholarly world lost an extraordinary intellect and teacher, when Barrington Moore, Jr. died from complications of pneumonia at his home on Larchwood Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, surrounded by thousands of treasured books and copies of manuscripts completed and in progress. During his 92 years, Moore witnessed the upheavals of the twentieth century and devoted himself to a life of rigorous scholarship. Without big money grants or a vast research team, he crafted influential books and shaped the sensibilities of younger scholars who have gone on to set agendas in political science, sociology, and history. A scion of privilege, Barrington Moore, Jr., was left mostly to his nurses when his parents separated and then divorced. Raised from age nine by his maternal grandparents in Newport, Rhode Island, Barry’s warmest tie was to his grandfather, Lewis Cass Ledyard, an accomplished corporate lawyer who also served as private attorney...