<P> Toynbee's overall theory was taken up by some scholars, for example, Ernst Robert Curtius, as a sort of paradigm in the post-war period . Curtius wrote as follows in the opening pages of European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (1953 English translation), following close on Toynbee, as he sets the stage for his vast study of medieval Latin literature . Curtius wrote, "How do cultures, and the historical entities which are their media, arise, grow and decay? Only a comparative morphology with exact procedures can hope to answer these questions . It was Arnold J. Toynbee who undertook the task ." </P> <P> After 1960, Toynbee's ideas faded both in academia and the media, to the point of seldom being cited today . However, his work continued to be referenced by classical historians, at least, because "his training and surest touch is in the world of classical antiquity ." His roots in classical literature are also manifested by similarities between his approach and that of classical historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides . Comparative history, by which his approach is often categorized, has been in the doldrums . Yet, in Jared Diamond's book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed there are similarities between Toynbee's "Challenge and Response" theory and Diamond's analysis on how elites make decisions at critical moments . For example, Diamond writes in Collapse that if the elites are insulated from problems in society and not actively engaged, they are more apt to make mistakes . Thus, Diamond may be stating that elites cannot mount effective responses to challenges if their knowledge, sympathy, or own self - interest are not sufficiently the same as the broader society . </P> <P> While the writing of the Study was under way, Toynbee produced numerous smaller works and served as director of foreign research of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (1939--43) and director of the research department of the Foreign Office (1943--46); he also retained his position at the London School of Economics until his retirement in 1956 . </P> <P> Toynbee worked for the Political Intelligence Department of the British Foreign Office during World War I and served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . He was director of studies at Chatham House, Balliol College, Oxford University, 1924--43 . Chatham House conducted research for the British Foreign Office and was an important intellectual resource during World War II when it was transferred to London . With his research assistant, Veronica M. Boulter, Toynbee was co-editor of the RIIA's annual Survey of International Affairs, which became the "bible" for international specialists in Britain . </P>

What writer concluded that european society was on the decline after world war 1