On the Spot: Philippe Sands
What historical topic have I changed my mind on? The ‘greatness’ of Britain.
Why are you a historian of law and justice?
To be a better teacher, advocate and writer.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
Nothing is only ever what it seems.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Geoffrey Trease, This is Your Century (1965): read as a teenage schoolboy, it opened the imagination.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Helena Kennedy, Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice (1993).
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
The signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco, 26 June 1945, or the opening speech at the Nuremberg Trial, 20 November 1945, in Courtroom 600 of the Palace of Justice.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Stefan Zweig.
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