If you knew for instance, that British had been in Iraq in the 1920’s, and had run into problems there, this might at least make you pause before tak… - John Elliott

...As there was a growing pressure to publish, and publish to a deadline – which I think is a disaster, and has been an intellectual disaster...

...In this globalized world, independence no longer exists. It is gladdening to see that we are part of a world in which we are all linked. There is also a thing called generosity: any people that thinks only of itself and is not generous with others is doing itself harm in the long run.

By definition a historian must be curious; that is what makes us look into the heart of societies. I think that I was surprised by the relative ease with which Spain moved from dictatorship to democracy after the death of Franco. But thinking about the impact of civil wars on societies I have reached the conclusion that the generation that grows up after a civil war has such terrible memories of what happened that it does everything possible to prevent a repetition in the future.