Niall Ferguson, eminent political and financial historian, will speak at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27. His discussion, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, is free and open to the public, with seating is available on a first-come basis.
"He is clearly the star of my generation of European historians, breathtaking in terms of productivity, range of topics, and originality of style," said Jonathan Petropoulos, John V. Croul Professor of European History, director of the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, and associate director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights. "He is a remarkable historian and makes a 600-page tome feel like a fun read."
Ferguson, professor of political and financial history at Oxford University and visiting professor in economics at NYU's Stern School of Business, was recently awarded an endowed chair at Harvard University. A popular History Channel host, he is the author of six books, including Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, described by Petropoulos as "as grand in scope and detail as its subject," as well as The World's Banker: History of the House of Rothschild, considered a masterpiece of business and social history.
"If you had to rank the top five or ten historians in the world today, he would definitely be on the list," says Marc Weidenmier, assistant professor of economics and instrumental in arranging Ferguson's CMC visit.
Ferguson first received international acclaim with his work Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, in which he explores counterfactual historythe spinning of elaborate theories about what might have happened. He advocates a unique historical perspective of looking at any period in history through the eyes of those who lived it, rather than through those who know its outcome. His Athenaeum discussion will consider the imprint left by the British Empire on the modern world, and the lessons British history offers the United States, which Ferguson calls "an empire in denial".
Reservations are required for the luncheon, which begins at 11:45 a.m., with tickets $10 for those outside the CMC community. For reservations and additional information, contact the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at (909) 621-8244, email athenaeum@claremontmckenna.edu, or visit http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/mmca.