Alex Clarke describes a preference for funding research through his audience because it leaves more freedom over topics, methods, and publication. He distinguishes funders' interest in prestigious journals or particular publishers from control over a historian's conclusions, which he says is not how the vast majority of grants operate. Expensive academic books and narrowly read journals can restrict the audience for useful work. He gives Routledge books costing roughly £200 as an example of that barrier. His preference is to share research widely so that lessons survive beyond the people who learned them. That includes experiences people could not or did not want to pass on within their families, especially lessons acquired at great human cost.
Notable Point · 25:29-27:52
Research funding, publishing costs, and access to history
A personal account of research funding connects publication incentives with the cost of books and the purpose of sharing historical lessons.