United Kingdom. By Adrian Bingham

Abstract

History writing is performative and most effective if it targets a specific audience in its structure and reach. Judged thus, the book is a triumph as it implicitly sets out to appeal to a wider, more diverse, and younger readership without recourse to the temptations of simplification or the well-worn clichés of the national story. Extending the resonance of history to less traditional audiences is an ambition embraced by professional historians from schoolteachers through university lecturers to archivists and media producers. This imperative is appreciated by many organizations including the Historical Association and was neatly encapsulated in the Annual Newsletter of the Royal Historical Society (2022) where its chair of the membership committee, Andrew Smith, rationalizes a broader membership: … This reflects both the realities of the historical profession and fosters closer collaboration between practitioners across sectors. While certainly not neglecting the need for deep-mined, original research, there is also scope for skilfully constructing informative assessments of the modern world that take new audiences beyond the rampaging cynicism of contemporary politics or the pessimism of much that passes for debate on the UK’s place in the world, centring the discussion on the UK’s historical context. This is the perfect time for a book such as Bingham’s.