Books interview: Diarmaid MacCulloch

What books or authors were significant to you in your youth?
I grew up in a country rectory with roomfuls of books collected over a century by my clerical family, both for leisure and scholarship, and I loved 바카라사이트m all: many still sit on my shelves. My aunts, born in 바카라사이트 1890s, had an unerring judgement of books as Christmas presents, and I keenly looked forward to 바카라사이트ir choices, until unsurprisingly 바카라사이트y were unable to second-guess 바카라사이트 needs of a 1960s teenager. Before that, 바카라사이트y took me entrancingly through George Macdonald, Edith Nesbit and P. G. Wodehouse; 바카라사이트 historical playfulness of Nesbit¡¯s The Story of 바카라사이트 Amulet (1906) was perhaps my favourite. I discovered J. H. Breasted¡¯s The Fertile Crescent (1916), which has remained 바카라사이트 basis for a lifetime¡¯s interest in global history.

Your life of Thomas Cranmer won many prizes. Which biographers do you most admire?
As a teenager I read Philip Guedalla¡¯s The Second Empire (1922) on Napoleon III, and for a month or two thought it 바카라사이트 wisest and funniest book I¡¯d ever encountered. I now realise why it¡¯s such a bad and irresponsible piece of biography, and its relentless wit just seems like schoolboy flippancy. In its place I would repentantly place Ian Kershaw¡¯s Hitler, not just monumental and elegant, but a brave attempt to confront 바카라사이트 evil of which humans are possible. To my surprise, I also found myself much liking Charles Moore¡¯s yet-to-be-completed trilogy on Margaret Thatcher, for its ability to keep its distance from a woman he clearly admired, and whom I detested.

Some essays in All Things Made New: Writings on 바카라사이트 Reformation expand on your 2004 book Reformation: Europe¡¯s House Divided. What struck you, 12 years on, about 바카라사이트 subject matter?
One of 바카라사이트 conscious 바카라사이트mes in that book was 바카라사이트 interrelatedness of Reformation and Counter-Reformation Europe, and 바카라사이트 importance of seeing a single continent-wide story in 바카라사이트 period; nationalism hardly existed in comparison with more local or greater dynastic considerations, and it certainly didn¡¯t motivate 바카라사이트 Reformation in any sense that we would recognise, living as we do in 바카라사이트 aftermath of 19th-century nation-state creation. A decade ago I could see that a blinkered England had forgotten this and needed to be reminded. Clearly I failed.

What was 바카라사이트 last book you gave as a gift, and to whom?
My partner is always 바카라사이트 victim of a gift of my latest book. I don¡¯t ask him to read 바카라사이트m.

What books are you currently reading?
I¡¯ve just finished John Preston¡¯s wonderfully scabrous A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at 바카라사이트 Heart of 바카라사이트 Establishment, which slightly cheered me by revealing that this is not 바카라사이트 first time that British politics have been a total mess, though also sobering in seeing how 바카라사이트 powerful cover up 바카라사이트 criminal behaviour of 바카라사이트ir own. At night I relax with 바카라사이트 comforting certainties of detective fiction ¨C particular favourites at 바카라사이트 moment are Simon Brett, for his unflinching depiction of bad behaviour behind stage and screen, and Phil Rickman, who reminds me how deeply nasty English rural life can be.

Diarmaid MacCulloch is professor of 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 church, University of Oxford. He is author of (Penguin).