One reason, little stated, why regular furores occur about Woke and anti-imperial histories is that despite the best efforts of those researching socialist, feminist and history from below, probably the majority of better known historians are on the political right.
One example is the Scottish historian Niall Ferguson, Knighted in 2024 who is currently based at Stanford.
I’ve read his history in the past and particularly enjoyed the syndicated articles he wrote for the Sunday Times. Of course his perspective came from the right but it was often thought provoking with sometimes unpredictable conclusions.
How far this remains true I’m less sure. He gave an interview to the Times (4th January) where he now writes an occasional column.
In his latest double page spread (Times 1st March) he complains about Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in US and UK Universities in a way that Trump would no doubt approve of. He touches on the ‘woke mind virus’ but suggests that the real issue is poor governance in academic institutions. By this he means that ideas on the left are permitted (Palestine excepted of course) and those on the right frowned upon at best. He also runs through a number of right-wing academics he thinks have been cancelled.
I think many on the left would be very critical of University governance and the vast salaries many Vice Chancellors pay themselves but I don’t think this is where Ferguson is coming from.
Somehow I also don’t expect the Times will be offering an historian from the left a two page spread to reply.
He noted in his January piece that he had recently been at a Donald Trump event at Mar a Lago and while he was critical of Trump from 2016 to the attempted coup in January 2021, now thinks Trump will be an ok President. He now argues that the 2021 event was simply an outcrop of the pandemic and not a coup.
He is also a friend of Elon Musk who he declares to be innovative but plans to speak to him about his backing for Reform UK Ltd. Ferguson backs Kemi Badenoch.
Ferguson rose to prominence in the Thatcher era and is the model for a right-wing historian in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys. He advised Lord Dave Cameron, though he doesn’t say what about.
Ferguson notes that he spoke to King Charles at Windsor when he received his Knighthood and they discussed progress on his biography of Kissinger.
The contrast (perhaps) is with Eric Hobsbawm. Hobsbawm was a Companion of Honour (a higher award than a Knighthood). Hobsbawm remained a member of the CPGB until it dissolved in 1990, and his politics were often disputed on the left. His history however was invariably insightful and not mechanically tied to his political perspectives although informed by them.
I think the same was true of Ferguson but as someone who is now a fan of Trump and Musk I’m no longer sure.
You seem to be very sparing with pronouns in this; were you having to ration them?