On the Spot: Erik Linstrum
‘In the US, people often think of British history as quaint or niche, instead of a central force in the making of global modernity.’
Why are you a historian of British imperialism?
I started studying history during the early years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was hard not to see an American empire re-enacting the patterns of past powers.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
The best way to explain a complex phenomenon is to tell a well-ordered story about it.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Robert Darnton’s The Great Cat Massacre. Deep research, creativity and good writing can make almost anything the subject of history.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Margaret Jacobs’ White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
Fin-de-siècle Vienna.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Eric Hobsbawm. Some historians have an eye for telling details; others can make sense of big structural forces. He had a gift for both.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
George Orwell.
How many languages do you have?
With varying degrees of fluency, French, German and Italian.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
Liberalism, which I now think obscures almost as much as it explains about the British Empire.
What is the most common misconception about your field?
In the US, people often think of British history as quaint or niche, instead of a central force in the making of global modernity.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
Louis Pasteur.
… and the most overrated?
Winston Churchill.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
The history of information.
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
Newton’s Principia.
What’s your favourite archive?
BBC Written Archives.
What’s the best museum?
The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
What technology has changed the world the most?
The printing press.
Recommend us a historical novel...
Burr by Gore Vidal.
... and a historical drama?
Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.
What will future generations judge us most harshly for?
Insufficient action to protect the climate.
Erik Linstrum is Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His latest book is Age of Emergency: Living With Violence at the End of the British Empire (Oxford University Press, 2023).
