On the Spot: Michael Burleigh
We ask 20 questions of leading historians on why their research matters, one book everyone should read and their views on the Tudors …
Why are you a historian?
I like to understand what is going on around me. History is one guide, though sometimes on what not to do.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That intangibles like honour or national sentiment invariably trump hard economic interests.
Which book has had the greatest influence on you?
Marc Bloch’s French Rural History, A.T.Q. Stewart’s The Narrow Ground or Reginald Lennard’s Rural England.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Mainly books on Asia-Pacific, such as Howard French’s Everything Under the Heavens.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
The 18th century. I was once in Voltaire’s house and thought, yes, this is for me.
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