On the Spot: Susan-Mary Grant
‘There’s always someone missing from the story.’
Why are you a historian of the United States?
It seemed fresh and exciting when I was an undergraduate, and the lecturers at Edinburgh, especially George Shepperson, were very inspiring.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That there’s always someone missing from the story.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Unusually for a Civil War historian, John Demos’ The Unredeemed Captive, which is about colonial New England.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Thavolia Glymph, Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, 1865, but only for a short visit.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Peter J. Parish, author of The American Civil War (he was my PhD supervisor).
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
Crazy Horse.
How many languages do you have?
Three.
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