Antony Beevor Quotes

• When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

  Antony Beevor

• When I was younger I used to get my best writing done at night, but now it has to be during the day. I usually finish work at half past seven, then go back to the house to open a bottle of wine, have dinner, and then read or watch television.

  Antony Beevor

• When I was a child I had something called Perthes’ Disease which meant I was on crutches, so I was bullied at school and all that sort of stuff.

  Antony Beevor

• To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make.

  Antony Beevor

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• The vital thing for me is to integrate the history from above with the history from below because only in that way can you show the true consequences of the decisions of Hitler or Stalin or whomever on the ordinary civilians caught up in the battle.

  Antony Beevor

• The majority of soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army and the allied armies treated the local population humanely.

  Antony Beevor

• The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see the old monster of militant nationalism being awoken when people realise how little control their politicians have.

  Antony Beevor

• The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.

  Antony Beevor

• The British bombing of Caen beginning on D-Day in particular was stupid, counter-productive and above all very close to a war crime.

  Antony Beevor

• One has this image of the Soviet state and the Red Army as being extremely disciplined but in the first four months of 1945 their soldiers were completely out of control.

  Antony Beevor

• It was only after five years in the army, when I was having to do a very boring job in a very boring place, that I thought: ‘Why not try writing a novel?’ partly out of youthful arrogance and partly because there had been a long line of writers in my mother’s family.

  Antony Beevor

• It takes me three or four years to research and write each book and the individual stories stay with you for a long time afterwards.

  Antony Beevor

• If you smash a city when you’re trying to capture it, you actually end up providing the perfect terrain for the defenders while blocking the access for your own armoured vehicles.

  Antony Beevor

• I think it’s outrageous if a historian has a ‘leading thought’ because it means they will select their material according to their thesis.

  Antony Beevor

• I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people at that time.

  Antony Beevor

• I joined the Army in 1965 and served with the 11th Hussars, which I loved. The regiment was so relaxed – a salute was more like a friendly wave.

  Antony Beevor

• I feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does.

  Antony Beevor

• I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong.

  Antony Beevor

• I can’t envisage stopping writing.

  Antony Beevor

• I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.

  Antony Beevor

Antony Beevor (20)

Birth:	14th December, 1946
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Author, Historian

About

Antony James Beevor  is an English historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission. He has published several popular histories on the Second World War and the 20th century in general. Beevor is a visiting professor at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London. His best-known works, the best-selling Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945, recount the World War II battles between the Soviet Union and Germany.  His 2012 book, The Second World War is noted for its focus on the conditions and grief faced by civilians and women and for its "masterful" coverage of the war in East Asia.  He was also awarded an Honorary D.Litt. from the University of Bath in 2010, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent, awarded in 2004. His book Crete: The Battle and the Resistance for which he won the Runciman Prize.

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