“By the middle twentieth century, few European nation-states had not at one time or another figured themselves as 'the outpost of Western Christian civilisation': France, imperial Germany, the Habsburg Reich, Poland with its self-image as przedmurze (bastion), even tsarist Russia.… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
It was a real revolution. But with one missing feature. That is the feeling in a people that "We have done it once, and… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
History--the product, not the raw material--is a bottle with a label. For many years now, the emphasis of historical discussion has been laid upon… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
Who invented political tolerance? The English invented it, it's something which has taken roots with some difficulty in Scottish politics. — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
The way that words mutate reminds me of fashions in music. The word--the note--is a constant. But the setting and chord in which it… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
Well, if there is a spectrum between ethnic and civic forms of nationalism, which is a rather schematic way of looking at it, all… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
Broadly speaking, most people lived their lives in a kind of unwilling conformity. The thing was that they were offered, as time went by,… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
But the people did get it. They had lost something -- not exactly their fear, but their patience. Suddenly it seemed unbearable to go… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
In Moscow, dim and green under the summer rain, columns of armour were waiting in the side-roads off the long avenue from Vnukovo airport.… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
“To be defeated, but not to give in, is victory. - Jósef Piłsudski” — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
When Tony Benn became a minister in the 1960s -- and I think this must be apocryphal -- he had a huge map of… — Neal Ascherson Copy Share Image
