Top 5: Historians

Top 5/10/whatever lists seem awfully popular these days, don't they? Normally I abstain from such things, but today I crumbled. Invited to put together a Top 5 list of my own choosing, naturally I chose...historians. Why? Because I'm a total nerd girl, of course - and insufficiently versed in any of the usual hipster topics (music, fashion, sport, etc.). So here ya go.

Top Five: Historians
In no particular order...

1. Edward Said – RIP. Love him or hate him, the brilliance that is Orientalism has ensured a place in the historical canon for Said. He’s one mean, paradigm-shifting mofo. *sound of Said spinning in grave* [edit: can't believe I just used the term "paradigm-shifting mofo"...bwahahaha!]

2. Elaine Showalter – OK, so technically she’s an English professor. But her literary histories are empirically-grounded, fascinating and highly readable. What’s yer fancy? Madwomen in attics? Hysteria? Sexual anarchy at the fin de siècle? I’m always interested in anything she has to say.

3. Margaret MacMillan – The granddaughter of David Lloyd George! And Canadian! A truly terrifying intellect, for sure. Paris 1919 is as dense as treacle, but one feels smarter just for having read it. It was one of her earlier works, Women of the Raj, which switched me on to women’s history many years ago.

4. Francis Fukuyama – Ah, I just love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning, don’t you? He makes my list simply because of the breathtaking audacity it takes to write a book called The End of History. And then, a decade on, to see it all proved so utterly, ridiculously wrong. But hey, thanks for coming out, Francis.

5. SJ Brooke – not a telly don or a media star...but the fella who made me want to become a historian. And a damn smart guy too.