In this episode, recorded in August 2020, Professor Jo Fox, Director of the IHR, talks to Professor Richard Vinen of King's College, London. Richard and Jo discuss what recent events mean for how we think about chronologies of the recent past, and whether -- and why -- future historians will remember this year as significant. 

When the history of 2020 is written, how will it be shaped by economic and geographical experience, and how can we engage with the extraordinary scale of recent events? Can historical parallels help us better understand the events of 2020? 

Richard and Jo discussed how historians are responding to the 2020 pandemic, what the events of 2020 will mean for how we view the very recent past, whether 2020 will become a significant year (as many presume) and the impact of current event on the wider historical profession.

This is the second in a 2-part set of conversations which followed the IHR's 2020 'Historical Research Lecture' on the subject of 'Writing Histories of 2020: responses and perspectives'. The annual lecture is supported by Oxford University Press who publish the Institute's academic journal, 'Historical Research'.

History in Conversation: 'How will we write the history of 2020? #2', with Richard Vinen: Episode 6

A selection of Podcast episodes from the Institute of Historical Research:
• A Historian's Life
• History in Conversation

History in Conversation: 'How will we write the history of 2020? #2', with Richard Vinen: Episode 6

Institute of Historical Research Podcast