Shelf Life

The scholar of American history and author on the works of Pearl S. Buck, John Hersey and others that sparked his interest in the work of US missionaries and the role of religion in the US

2 November

The scholar of East European studies and author of Red Hangover on reading for escape, quoting Lenin at the Model United Nations and understanding everyday life ‘behind the Iron Curtain’

12 October

The author of 'Twilight of History' on growing up with tales of the Wild West, learning how to do history and deconstructing Jewish and Israeli mythologies

13 April

The professor of medieval history and author of Blanche of Castile: Queen of France on the literary and scholarly stepping stones that fuelled her interest in the Middle Ages

24 November

The radical anthropologist and author of Decoding Chomsky traces his interest in animal behaviour, tribal customs and language back to Doctor Dolittle via Tolstoy, Engels and Marx

10 November

The professor of neurology on the doctor’s life, treating and befriending a treasured author and bringing memoir, medical biography and pop-sci together in writing Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine

27 October

The novelist and historian, whose latest book is The Hamilton Affair, says the best stories are those that make you care. Her summer plans include lying in a hammock, and reading the perfect number of books – five

4 August

MP and editor of Reading the Riot Act: Reflections on the 2011 Urban Disorders in England on suburbia, the Famous Five, and the overlap between politics and academia

Sunil Khilnani, author of Incarnations: India in 50 Lives, on his wife Katherine Boo's worldwide success, the wisdom of C.L.R. James and R. G. Collingwood, and the 'deliciously bad ends' of Struwwelpeter

3 March