The Future of History

Thursday 28 June 2012

High Five

Well, an interesting 24 hours or so.  A lovely interview about The King Arthur Conspiracy with Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk, Ireland's independent talk radio station.

And then, History Today magazine sent through the proofs for an article they'll be publishing in next month's edition.  It's entitled "Arthur and the Church", and with the fantastic illustrations the whole thing runs to seven pages.  New territory for me, and all very exciting.

First, though, I came across my first Amazon review for the Arthur book.  John, who wrote it, is an American author and post-graduate researcher.  He put out a shout a few months ago for somebody to mentor him through a university paper on the subject of Arthur and Sustainability.

I was intrigued straightaway.  But I also knew that the other Arthur enthusiasts on the site would simply see his request as an excuse for some nitpicking and squabbling.  That's why the "experts" haven't found Arthur - they're too busy arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

I saw John's request as a fascinating opportunity, a chance to explore what the history and legends of Arthur might have to tell us about sustainability, which is surely the biggest issue of our age.  John and I communicated by email, and after a while I suggested he have a look at the manuscript of my Arthur book (then with the publishers) so that he knew where I was coming from.

John, I have to say, is a great reader.  He read the Arthur manuscript twice, to my knowledge, and had many kind, encouraging and thoughtful observations to make about it.

So, he had a bit of a headstart.  And his 5-Star review on Amazon is a lovely tribute.  I'll share it with you here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0752476858/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Hope to post a link to the History Today article when it makes it onto the 'net.  Till then, best wishes to all!!

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