Big questions of history

Historians are masters at asking questions, but they rarely tackle the big questions: WHO WON THE WAR? WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN INFLUENTIAL LEADER? HOW DO INTELLECTUAL OR RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS BEGIN? WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF NATIONALISM? This book aims to address these and other questions. Using examples from the past, from ancient Greece to modern-day England, historians attempt to answer these questions that have troubled humanity for centuries. While Richard Evans asks what history is, Ian Kershaw considers how a leader's personality can affect politics. Edited by Harriet Swain, each essay is written by a historian, followed by a commentary by a journalist weighing the different perspectives on the present and the past.