Episode · How I Write · 2026-02-12

Books mentioned on How to Write Rigorously Well — Diarmaid MacCulloch

2 books · With Diarmaid MacCulloch · Watch on YouTube

Books mentioned, in the order they came up

  1. Wolf Hall

    Hilary Mantel · at 19:10

    Discussed
    “So, one of the things she did with the third part of her trilogy, the Wolf Hall trilogy, was to send me the typescript or the yeah, a virtual equivalent of a typescript, the PDF, and say, Can you look at this and have a look at the the historicity of it?”
    Where to get it
  2. A People's History of the United States

    Howard Zinn · at 35:23

    A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is a historical critique that examines American history from the perspective of marginalized groups, emphasizing labor struggles, civil rights movements, and conflicts over traditional nationalist narratives.

    Discussed
    “And then I was thinking of I remember in high school I read um the book on America by Howard Zinn, right? And at the very I still remember the intro. He basically says, the American story a people's history of the United States, I think it is.”
    Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Own book Thomas Cranmer
“So, in fact what I did for two major biographies which I've written, first Thomas Cranmer and then Thomas Cromwell was to go back to the classic sources on my period, the English Reformation as it was then.”
Own book Thomas Cromwell
“So, in fact what I did for two major biographies which I've written, first Thomas Cranmer and then Thomas Cromwell was to go back to the classic sources on my period, the English Reformation as it was then.”