Alan Bullock
British historianWikipedia
5
MENTIONS
4
EPISODES
4
PODCASTS
Search complete. 5 mentions across 4 episodes found for "Alan Bullock".
Oct 18, 2026
Iain DaleHOST
it? Oh, there have been many.
Gillian ShephardGUEST
Alan Bullock? No, but whatever.
Gillian ShephardGUEST
He said, you go into number 10 and you think it's full of levers that you pull and things happen.
Gillian ShephardGUEST
And you do pull the lever, but nothing happens.
Oliver MalcolmGUEST
As a historian, I would read Eric Hobsbawm, who's obv- obviously on the left wing.
Oliver MalcolmGUEST
But I'd also read Alan Bullock, or I'll read Ian Kershaw, or I'll read an Antony Beevor.
Oliver MalcolmGUEST
The whole point is you build up your knowledge set through reading a real sort of eclectic range of views.
Oliver MalcolmGUEST
And funnily enough, you know, in the old days, I think being well-read was something which was considered an incredibly important characteristic.
Thomas777GUEST
Okay.
Thomas777GUEST
How do you want to finish up this I wanted to do a retrospective on Hitler's character a bit because the main biographies of Hitler that are accepted by court historians are Ian Kershaw, Alan Bullock, Joachim Fest, and John Toland.
Thomas777GUEST
Although Toland increasingly, I mean, he's been dead for many years, but increasingly he's no longer considered part of the canon because he, you know, people who want to finesse their ideological prejudice would say like, oh, he humanizes Hitler or he minimizes the severity of, you know, purported, you know, fascist evil and things.
Thomas777GUEST
But if you're going to deal with Hitler in any meaningful capacity, you kind of have to, you kind of have to, you have to rebut those allegations and those kinds of specious claims.
Pete QuiñonesHOST
Well, let's get into it.
ThomasGUEST
The thing about Hitler in terms of his character that's misrepresented by people like Alan Bullock, by people like Kershaw, really by kind of the seminal like mainstream historians of Hitler, they cast him as this kind of provincial rube who was not at all worldly, you know, and, um, you know, kind of had no understanding of power political affairs outside of, you know, this narrow corner literally of the kind of, of, of, of the Hasser empire where he was raised.
ThomasGUEST
You know, this kind of, this kind of underdeveloped, you know, sort of failing by the time he was born, like monarchist dinosaur, you know, that was, that was wracked by like ethnic conflict and, and things and, and kind of arcane political structures, you know, and, and, um, and intrigues and vendettas therein.
ThomasGUEST
That's not at all the case.
2 HRS 44 MINS LATER
Pete QuiñonesHOST
Yeah, why don't...
Pete QuiñonesHOST
Okay.
Pete QuiñonesHOST
How do you want to finish up this I wanted to do a retrospective on Hitler's character a bit because the main biographies of Hitler that are accepted by court historians are Ian Kershaw, Alan Bullock, Joachim Fest, and John Toland.
Pete QuiñonesHOST
Although Toland increasingly, I mean, he's been dead for many years, but increasingly he's no longer considered part of the canon because he, you know, people who want to finesse their ideological prejudice would say like, oh, he humanizes Hitler or he minimizes the severity of, you know, purported, you know, fascist evil and things.