Episode 29: Jeremy Black studies war (and talks academia)

Jeremy Black spoke to me Jan. 1, 2022, so he seems the perfect guest to share first in this new season. 

He talks about one of the most emotionally fraught issues of human civilization, War and Violence(TM), with a historian's pragmatism and a respect for those affected by the war, especially the dead. 

I start off on some rant here about war being "bad," and he adds nuance and refuses to be baited into black-and-white thinking. One of his most recent books, A Short History of War (2021, Yale University Press), succinctly presents a complicated view of war that belies our current take that war is always and mostly caused by modern nations and politics: "Bellicosity in the shape of the will and readiness to fight leads to war, rather than war arising because misunderstandings produce inaccurate calculations of interest and response."

The best bonus, for me, turned out to be his rearview mirror picture of academia as Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter.

He's also excited for you to read A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps (2020, University of Chicago Press), if you're interested enough in learning some of the geographical facts and realities that affected the biggest multi-country conflagration in the 20th century.

And a little teaser? He's not just a prolific writer, but he's clearly an avid reader, and he's working on books on Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. I've never been much for mysteries, but I might be enticed into exploring these classic writers in a deeper way.

Jeremy Black's interview is the first of a three-part series I hope to do on Nation-Building, War and Peace. (Also in the works is a series on Birth, Adolescence and Old Age.)

Enjoy. And happy (belated) new year ...