On the Spot: Linda Colley
Why are you a historian of the 18th century?
I am drawn to the 18th century partly because the sources are rich, but not so overwhelmingly abundant as for subsequent centuries.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
The capacity of worldly and intelligent human beings often to make predictable mistakes.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
In recent decades, C.A. Bayly’s The Birth of the Modern World.
What book in your field should everyone read?
For any field, Peter Brown’s The Body and Society is a treasure trove of ideas.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
None: unless I could guarantee going back as someone very healthy, with enough money, and preferably male.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
On my career trajectory, J.H. Plumb. On my mind, there are too many to name.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
The pagan emperor Julian.
How many languages do you have?
Not as many as I would like!
What is the most common misconception about your field?
That historical knowledge is a kind of decorative extra.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
It’s a tie between the history of Africa and the history of science.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
My views on most things shift as I gradually learn more.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
I would like to know more about William O. Golding, the Black sailor who produced images of all the great world ports in the 1930s. We don’t have a single photo of him.
… and the most overrated?
Henry VIII.
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
I discover new ones every day.
What’s your favourite archive?
The one I have yet to find and explore.
What’s the best museum?
The Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
What technology has changed the world the most?
Cheap, reliable birth control.
Recommend us a historical novel…
Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point.
… and a historical drama?
I never watch historical drama.
You can solve one historical mystery. What is it?
What happened to Edward Gibbon’s corrected proofs?
Linda Colley is Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University. Her latest book is The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World (Profile, 2022).
