Arnold Toynbee was born in England in 1889. He started his career a classical scholar before turning his attention to history and international affairs. He was a tutor and fellow in ancient history at Balliol College, Oxford, and soon after began working for the intelligence department of the British Foreign Office. In 1925, he began to teach international history at the London School of Economics and was the Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
In 1934, Toynbee started his most noted work, A Study of History, which analyzes the rise and fall of 26 civilizations, with a subsequent volume published in 1954. These works earned him a level of public recognition not matched by any other historian of his time. He became a Professor Emeritus at the University of London and wrote other books, including Hellenism and East to West: A Journey Around The World.
Toynbee delivered a series of three lectures in January 1961 on the subject, "The Present Day Experiment in Western Civilization" titled "The Experiment of Hellenization", "The Attraction of the Western Way of Life" and "Parliamentary Democracy on Trial".
Click on the cover to download a PDF of Arnold Toynbee's first Lecture transcript:
Transcript: McGill University Archives.
Image: UK National Portrait Gallery
