EclectEcon

Sir Martin Gilbert is a noted historian, having studied and written extensively, primarily about Sir Winston Churchill but also many other 20th-century events and figures. He says he is always interested in how interpretations and analyses change when archives become available. From a recent interview (the link to the full interview is here),

[H]e stressed that archival sources consistently showed major discrepancies between what is really going on in world affairs and the inaccurate way in which events and personalities are perceived at the time.

"As a historian, I'm very cautious about anyone's claiming to know what any government is doing at the present time," he said. "I study archives as soon as they are open - normally 30 years after an event; sometimes a bit less. What you see when you do this is that the people you imagined had been strong were weak; the people you thought weak were strong; and things you thought couldn't possibly be taking place were taking place."

That was part of an interview in which he said that Lawrence of Arabia was a strong Zionist.

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If you can, take the time to read the entire interview; it is very informative.

notes: Sir Martin Gilbert has been visiting The University of Western Ontario off-and-on this academic year. [h/t to Pooh for the link to the full interview].