Nick Shepley

How could the same hundred years produce genocides, global wars, consumer culture and the highest living standards in human history? How can this paradox be explained? It's these thoughts that keep me awake at night, endlessly disecting the modern era. This is why I decided to write the Explaining History series, because history for all of us is a powerful living enigma and one that frequently resists explanation.

I am a writer, teacher, sometimes journalist and advocate for better history in schools and in public discourse, and I'd like to think of the Explaining History series as a partnership between myself and you the readers. If you'd like to navigate the century and truly understand it in all its many confusing forms and narratives, think of me as merely the skilled local guide. In the next few months I will be focusing on China, the First World War and the Middle East, but I am open to requests as well. Visit the site www.explaininghistory.com and make it your own, message me, write for me and participate as much as you want in the discussion, history, after all is made by all of us, and perhaps that's how it should be written too. You can now also get in touch via my own personal site: http://nickshepley.co.uk