A distinguished group of historians answers key questions about the past and about the present and future.
What wins wars? Why do empires rise and fall? What makes a great leader? What causes nationalism? How do spiritual movements spread? These are the questions in the forefront of our minds today but they meant just as much to people in the past. How did earlier generations tackle them, and how far can historians use the lessons of the past to help find some answers?
Drawing on examples from ancient Greece to Tony Blair s Britain, leading historical thinkers address twenty of the...