Under Lenin, hardly less than under Stalin, historians harbored critical opinions at their peril. The writing, let alone the publication, of political diaries was virtually impossible.

Any historian worth their salt should be aware of wars, conflicts, catastrophes. They happen. This is part of the panorama.

The advance of standard English culture was less assisted by government policy than by the sheer weight, wealth, and number of England's well-established cultural institutions.

The historical profession is nowhere famous for its tolerance, but there are not many countries where historians can expect to pay for their opinions with penal servitude or the firing squad.

Some people hate funerals. I find them comforting. They hit the pause button on life and remind us that it has an end. Every eulogy reminds me to deepen my dash, that place on the tombstone between our birth and our death.

I don't know what my Death Row meal would be. I'm surprised that people can even eat when they're on Death Row.

Harry Potter' changed my life in more ways than one, and it helped me get through my mother's death.

I don't think I could write a good play if I was setting out to write about the death of the American middle class.