. This essay, on the need to acknowledge the complexities of historical figures, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on what ancient burials tell us about being human.) It was published on 10 May 2021, under the headline “Let’s be honest – every national hero is tainted by the values of our time”. With distance can come greater perspective. We often better appreciate a physical object, whether a mountain or a monument and its relationship […]

Categories: History, International • Tags: culture wars, emmanuel macron, france, frederick douglass, history wars, napoleon, winston churchill