I hadn't read What Is History, by the father of Helen Carr, the book this one is ostensibly a sort of sequel to or update of. This was nevertheless an interesting and well written book.

'The history book on the shelf. It's always repeating itself." So sang the Swedish pop quartet, Abba, in their Eurovision winning 1974 hit, Waterloo. But, in reality, history never repeats itself. Not exactly anyway. The context
This book is a sequel of sorts, however, a follow-up to the great historian E.H Carr's influential 1961 classic, What Is History? co-authored by his great-granddaughter, Helen..
This book is packed with challenging, thought-provoking essays which re-evaluate what history means in the 21st century. Is it ever acceptable, for example, for historians to' "rewrite" history, for example? Should they, in fact, always be striving to do this? Are protesters who remove statues of historic figures associated with the slave trade really seeking to erase them from history as their critics claim or merely seeking to ensure that their lives are not unfairly celebrated? Are Hollywood films based on British history always necessarily a bad thing?
All these issues and many others are addressed in this highly readable, thought-provoking book..
Sarah Churchwell, Charlotte Riley, Miri Rubin, Simon Schama, Alex von Tunzelmann and Jaipreet Virdi. are amongst those contributing.

Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the publication of E.H. Carr’s influential What Is History?, this new collection of essays is an essential read for anyone with an interest in history. As national institutions and local councils are ridiculed in certain newspapers for re-examining legacies of their collections or statues and universities are forced to cut arts and humanities courses, What is History, Now? is not only timely, it’s an urgent book.

The book looks at how historical research and enquiry has developed over the past few decades, opening up to interdisciplinary study and narratives other than Great White Male Victorious, with essays on more diverse and inclusive avenues such as indigenous history and history of disability as well as neglected geographical areas such as East Asia. Gus Casely-Hayford writes about the aims of the new V&A East London museum while Alex von Tunzelmann examines our relationship with historical TV dramas and films, highlighting the current government’s outrage at the portrayal of the royal family in The Crown – a fictional drama series. Maya Jassaniff’s essay on imperialism, Onyeka Nubia’s on diversity in Tudor England and Charlotte Lydia Riley’s on why history should always be rewritten are also particularly pertinent. There is a lot to take out from this book, not least further reading sections that follow the individual essays.

Highly recommended, should be on the curriculum.

My thanks to Orion, W&N and Netgalley for the opportunity to read What Is History, Now?