ABSTRACT
Historians, it has been said, spend the first third of their career attacking the errors of their elders, the second third putting forward their own, more convincing interpretations to replace them, and the last third defending historical truth against the misguided iconoclasm of their younger colleagues. But it has also been said that as historians get older, the firm, clear-cut views with which they begin their career become fuzzier and more complex in the light of their increasing knowledge, until they are so nuanced that scarcely anything is left of the grand simplicities with which they set out. This, no doubt, is what gives each new generation of historians its opportunity to challenge existing ways of looking at the past. But it is also how historical understanding advances over time.
