Insecure lecturing employment raises a concern that historical research will increasingly depend on people who can support themselves from another income. A pension or private means could determine who has time to pursue the subject. Julian Corbett provides an example of a highly regarded gentleman historian. Financial independence offers no guarantee of good history, however, and poor work also comes from historians without that background.
Notable Point · 10:37-11:33
Who can afford to write history?
Insecure academic employment could make historical research increasingly dependent on outside income, reviving the conditions associated with gentleman historians.