“George Santayana’s misquotation and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”
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Past spaces
‘Narrative’ is at the heart of whatever history is, but history needs a material presence to quite literally give substance to these stories and ‘anchor’ them to the world. How else could those in the present know that some Flanders’ field is not just a field, but also the site of some important battle in…
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Why does Johan op de Beeck’s biography of Louis XIV fascinate me?
The qualities of storytelling. My mother tongue. The author’s passion. The tragic emplotment. Biography, not hagiography. Nostalgia and comfort. The lure of ‘Great Men-history’.
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What is History?
Is history a science? History contra the social sciences. From history to the historical.