Whose History is it Anyway?
As part of the ongoing debate over Black History Month, Tristram Hunt asks for greater dialogue between politicians and academics concerning the place of history in modern Britain.
Tony Blair’s hubristic aside to the US Congress in July 2003 that ‘a study of history provides so little instruction for our present day’ seemed to confirm fears about the place of history in modern politics. Despite the fact that Bush and Blair were about to engage in a near text-book repeat of British imperial adventurism in the Middle East, politicians in Washington and Westminster showed scant regard for the warnings of scholars, cultural historians, or retired generals.
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