The great help of being in the Army is to understand why are the armies clever in what they describe as emotional intelligence, making soldiers come to terms with the death of comrades by certain rituals.

The blurring of fact and fiction has great commercial potential, which is bound to be corrupting in historical terms.

I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people at that time.

I just love the days when you come out of the archives with half a dozen excellent descriptions or poignant accounts of personal experiences.

I think it's outrageous if a historian has a 'leading thought' because it means they will select their material according to their thesis

The great help of being in the Army is to understand why are the armies clever in what they describe as emotional intelligence, making soldiers come to terms with the death of comrades by certain rituals.

The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see the old monster of militant nationalism being awoken when people realise how little control their politicians have.