My friend and colleague Richard H King, who has died aged 80 of a long-standing lung complaint, was an intellectual historian and emeritus professor in American studies at the University of Nottingham. Erudite across disciplines, he was generous and modest, always encouraging to younger colleagues.
An outstanding scholar and teacher in his field, he was the author of The Party of Eros: Radical Social Thought and the Realm of Freedom (1972), A Southern Renaissance: the Cultural Awakening of the American South, 1930-1955 (1980), Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom (1992), Race, Culture and the Intellectuals, 1940-1970 (2004), and Arendt and America (2015). The depth of Richard’s writing enriched the study of ideas in America.
