Hand of History

'Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter' - Nigerian proverb'This proverb undermines the idea of "objective" history. It's all too easy to think that bias in history is bad, and that objectivity is good. But objectivity is usually a euphemism for the history of the victors, or the history of the hunters. What would an objective history of the Iraq war look like?- Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge UniversityFor this fund-raising book famous writers from around the world have selected their favorite quotes about history. Each has selected a quote and provided an original commentary explaining why it strikes a chord with them.The long list of more contributors includes: Juliet Barker, Conrad Black, Michael Bliss, Asa Briggs...

’This proverb undermines the idea of “objective” history. It’s all too easy to think that bias in history is bad, and that objectivity is good. But objectivity is usually a euphemism for the history of the victors, or the history of the hunters. What would an objective history of the Iraq war look like?

- Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University

For this fund-raising book famous writers from around the world have selected their favorite quotes about history. Each has selected a quote and provided an original commentary explaining why it strikes a chord with them.

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter - Nigerian proverb This proverb undermines the idea of objective history. It s all too easy to think that bias in history is bad, and that objectivity is good. But objectivity is usually a euphemism for the history of the victors, or the history of the hunters. What would an objective history of the Iraq war look like? - Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge UniversityFor this fund-raising book famous writers from around the world have selected their favorite quotes about history. Each has selected a quote and provided an original commentary explaining why it strikes a chord with them.The long list of more contributors includes: Juliet Barker, Conrad Black, Michael Bliss, Asa Briggs, Richard Cohen, Carlo D'Este, Terry Deary, Charles Esdaile, Richard Evans, Juliet Gardiner, Martin Gilbert, Charlotte Gray, Philip Haythornthwaite, James Holland, Eric Hobsbawm, Richard Holmes, Terry Jones, Arthur Keaveney, Robert Kershaw, Ian Knight, Phillip Knightly, Guido Knopp, Andrew Lambert, Paul Lay, Quentin Letts, Allan Mallinson, John Man, Hilary Mantel, Melissa Muller, Roger Moorhouse, Bill Nasson, David Nicolle, Charles von Onselen, Richard Overy, Laurence Rees, Andrew Roberts, Trevor Royle, James Shapiro, Gary Sheffield, Dennis Showalter, Dan Snow, Hew Strachan, Roy Strong, Claire Tomalin, Gerhard Weinberg, Keith Windschuttle and Efraim Zuroff.REVIEWS an intriguing collection of thoughts and observations by an equally intriguing collection of individuals. Free reign has been given to the writers and historians who have contributed to this anthology, and the result is as diverse as the individuals themselves. Fascinating stuff. Best of British Magazine August 2011"