Abstract
WALTER LAQUEUR
Readers of the Journal of Contemporary History will be saddened to learn of the death of its founding co-editor Walter Laqueur, at his home in Washington, DC, at the age of 97. It was his idea, and his alone, to create the journal, on his appointment in 1965 as Director of the newly established Institute of Contemporary History and its home, the recently renamed Wiener Library, in London and to invite George Mosse to edit the journal with him. Walter provided the steadying hand and the organizational experience that were essential in the task of building up the journal until it became the world’s leading academic periodical in a field it did so much itself to create. Following George’s death in 1999, he effectively edited the journal on his own until his retirement in 2003, after nearly four decades in the post. The debt the Journal of Contemporary History owes him is incalculable. A full appreciation will appear in the next issue.