The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
What prompted you to choose the period that you wrote your first book in? I think that it rather chose me, though nothing is that simple in life. Nor do I think that I am, as it were, wedded to one period. Although my chief interest lies in the so-called ‘long...
What first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? I’m careful not to get too trapped in any one period! My particular interest is in individuals – often quite ordinary people - who find themselves cast into an extraordinary situation. I use their story to...
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Simon Sebag Montefiore 2020 has been a stellar year for brilliant books and given Covid, I don’t think I’ve read so many books. I recommend India in the Persianate Age by Richard M Eaton, a brilliant, gripping, refreshing and scholarly history of India from 1000AD to...
Damien Lewis My new book, SAS Band of Brothers is all about bringing history alive. Making a decades-old conflict like WWII feel accessible and real. In a similar vein I tend to read gripping, visceral narrative history that can and does inspire. So, don’t be put off...
What first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? Each book has had a different genesis, although they overlap. The one about the Battle of Monte Cassino, was prompted by a book I was helping on as a freelance editor, called War of Nerves (by Ben...
What first attracted you to the period you work in? I came to it after quite a long ramble through other periods, beginning with a childhood fascination with Ancient Rome (I loved the helmets), followed by Medieval Europe (knights in armour, castles, cathedrals), the...
June 2017 You are primarily a Russian historian and in 2016 published your book ‘The Romanovs’, the story of twenty tsars and tsarinas who were the most successful dynasty of modern times. Why did you write ‘Jerusalem: The Biography’ when all your other work is on...
How did your experience as a war correspondent influence your work as a historian? A lot. It’s been a real help. It has been a great way to see the scene on the ground. The armies moving and empires falling. The espionage that comes with a sort of breakup of power....
In June 1772, Russian forces bombarded, stormed and captured Beirut, a fortress on the coast of Ottoman Syria. The Russians were backing their ally, a ruthless Arab despot. When they returned the next year, they occupied Beirut for almost six months. Then as now, they...
