Sudhir Hazareesingh
Sudhir Hazareesingh is University Professor in Politics and a Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford. He is a fellow of the British Academy and winner of the Prix D’Histoire of the Fondation Napoleon for his 2006 book, The Legend of Napoleon. His In The Shadow of the General (Le Mythe Guallien) was published by Gallimard in France in 2010 and by OUP in 2011, it was awarded the History Prize 2010 by the French Senate in recognition of a book which has helped to stimulate public reflection on the principles of good citizenship.
Books by Sudhir Hazareesingh
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture
by Sudhir Hazareesingh
***Winner of the 2021 Wolfson History Prize***
Black Spartacus tells the extraordinary story of Toussaint Louverture, general and leader of a successful slave revolt in what is now Haiti. He was fighting—at various times—the Spanish, the British and the French. But beyond that, the book goes into detail about his worldview and how he drew on European Enlightenment ideas, but was also strongly influenced by Christianity and beliefs and cultural practices from Africa.
“This book is not hagiography at all. It’s very easy to look for a great liberation hero. But this book shows a deeply flawed man who clearly didn’t make the lives of those who became free, all that much freer. He wanted hard work. There’s a certain ‘Animal Farm-ness’ about the story. And yet, what an achievement it was for this little island to stand up to one of the great powers of 18th century Europe and create the first predominantly Black-run republic in the world. It’s extraordinary.” Read more...
The Best History Books: The 2021 Wolfson Prize Shortlist
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Theologians & Historians of Religion
Interviews with Sudhir Hazareesingh
The best books on Charles de Gaulle’s Place in French Culture, recommended by Sudhir Hazareesingh
Hazareesingh’s book choices include de Gaulle’s “very readable” war diaries. In books of condolences after the leader’s death, people wrote things like, “Goodbye Charles, you were greater than Napoleon”
Interviews where books by Sudhir Hazareesingh were recommended
The best books on Charles de Gaulle’s Place in French Culture, recommended by Sudhir Hazareesingh
Hazareesingh’s book choices include de Gaulle’s “very readable” war diaries. In books of condolences after the leader’s death, people wrote things like, “Goodbye Charles, you were greater than Napoleon”
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1
Survivors: Children’s Lives after the Holocaust
by Rebecca Clifford -
2
Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture
by Sudhir Hazareesingh -
3
Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe
by Judith Herrin -
4
Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood
by Helen McCarthy -
5
Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge
by Richard Ovenden -
6
Atlantic Wars: From the Fifteenth Century to the Age of Revolution
by Geoffrey Plank
The Best History Books: The 2021 Wolfson Prize Shortlist, recommended by Diarmaid MacCulloch
The Best History Books: The 2021 Wolfson Prize Shortlist, recommended by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Every year the Wolfson History Prize seeks out books that combine careful research with good writing, aimed at the general reader. Here, Diarmaid MacCulloch, historian and chair of the judges, talks us through the outstanding history books that made the 2021 shortlist, and why, in his view, they’re all must-reads.
