On the Spot: Helen McCarthy
‘People can surprise you. They often don’t fit into the categories we impose on them.’
Why are you a historian of modern Britain?
I like how exploring the recent past of one’s country makes the seemingly familiar unfamiliar.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
People can surprise you. They often don’t fit into the categories we impose on them.
Which book has had the greatest influence on you?
Ross McKibbin’s Classes and Cultures (1998) for how it elucidates the deep structures that shape people’s ‘everyday’ assumptions.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Carolyn Steedman’s Landscape for a Good Woman (1986).
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
Interwar London, stopping at a Lyons Tearoom or visiting a Palais de Danse.
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