I’ll be teaching a special methodology class in Lent term on — what else? — causation and explanation in history. Any reading recommendations from those more well-read than I in these matters — and I can tell from some of the comments that there are a number of you — will be welcome.
(am thinking about how strange it is to be on the other side of the fence, in a position where, suddenly, I’ll be teaching rather than being taught — and realizing that teachers just might be as fragile & uncertain as their students. There are even a couple of my to-be students who are my age or a little older).
on the subject of fragility, things in Burma seem to have dissipated in fear — though, as the Guardian hopefully adds, “for now“. As profoundly pessimistic & miserable as I am about the whole matter, and given the at least short-term success of the crackdown (independent reports suggest that there are many more casualties than the junta is letting on), on reflection I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll have to wait another 20 years for the next maelstrom. And perhaps this is as good a reason as any to think (rather — hope, wish) that things are really changing in that hapless and beautiful country after all.
a historian's craft 