Antony Beevor

The memory of the Second World War hangs over Europe, an inescapable and irresistible point of reference. Historical parallels are usually misleading…

— Antony Beevor

I believe passionately in preemptive pessimism, especially before a book comes out. I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales, and…

— Antony Beevor

It is important to understand the continuing, confused fascination with the Second World War. For most of us, the great unspoken question…

— Antony Beevor

I was in Estonia when a professor asked me if I was aware that making any criticism of the Red Army during…

— Antony Beevor

“Hitler had learned nothing and had forgotten nothing.”

— Antony Beevor

The blurring of fact and fiction has great commercial potential, which is bound to be corrupting in historical terms.

— Antony Beevor

A blend of fact and fiction has been used in various forms since the dawn of creative writing, starting with sagas and…

— Antony Beevor

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked…

— Antony Beevor

I feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does.

— Antony Beevor

I'm often reassured in a bizarre - perhaps perverse - way when I find in the archive stuff that contradicts what my…

— Antony Beevor

The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.

— Antony Beevor

I love 'Blackadder,' but history it certainly ain't.

— Antony Beevor

Every country has its own perspective on the Second World War. This is not surprising when experiences and memories are so different.

— Antony Beevor

There are one or two very good women military historians who use imagination, great study and research; they can put themselves in…

— Antony Beevor

I think one of the great disasters (in military history) is the way that the Second World War has become the defining…

— Antony Beevor

The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see…

— Antony Beevor

“The biggest mistake made by German commanders was to have underestimated ‘Ivan’, the ordinary Red Army soldier. They quickly found that surrounded…

— Antony Beevor

When I was younger I used to get my best writing done at night, but now it has to be during the…

— Antony Beevor

The power of historical fiction for bad and for good can be immense in shaping consciousness of the past.

— Antony Beevor

When I was a child I had something called Perthes' Disease which meant I was on crutches, so I was bullied at…

— Antony Beevor

Counter-knowledge covers the propagation of false legends and conspiracy theories often used for political purposes or fundamentalist religious propaganda.

— Antony Beevor

I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the…

— Antony Beevor

In my library/study/barn, there is a Ping-Pong table on which I can pile working books and spread maps.

— Antony Beevor

It is this compulsion to look backwards at a time of crisis because one's got no idea of what lies ahead. There…

— Antony Beevor

Historical truth and the marketing needs of the movie and television industry remain fundamentally incompatible.

— Antony Beevor