Readable history and academic rigor are presented as compatible aims. An anecdote about academic publishing describes suspicion that work by a commercial historian might be a commercial product given a scholarly label. The response is that good academic history should also be written so people want to read it. The criticism is directed at that attitude within part of the profession, with an explicit later reminder that it does not describe all academics.
Notable Point · 1:18:19-1:19:50
Readable history and academic standards
An argument about historical writing questions the assumption that work for a broad readership is less scholarly.