'Laying an axe to the roots’: history writing for the present

“‘Laying an axe to the roots’: history writing for the present” will present an argument that given the multiple crises that we face in British society and history it might be helpful to take a long view. As historians we know that change happens, things do not stay the same, indeed the best thing about history is perhaps that there is always another turn. This can be very difficult to live with, as it is now – but perhaps a long view might give new perspectives, new hopes, even cast a different light on work for the future.

Speaker bio: Catherine Hall is Emerita Professor of History and Chair of the Centre of the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at UCL. She has written extensively on the history of Britain, gender and empire including Family Fortunes (1987), co-authored with Leonore Davidoff, Civilising Subjects (2002) Macaulay and Son (2012) and, with others, Legacies of British Slave-ownership (2014). From 2009-16 she was principal investigator on the LBS project www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs. Her latest book is Lucky Valley: Edward Long and the history of racial capitalism (2024).

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