Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck: 200 Years of Radical Learning for Working People

Excerpt

This volume celebrates the bicentenary in 2023 of what is now known as Birkbeck, University of London. The author has taught History there for over 30 years and “loves it” as she says in the Introduction. She has written many distinguished books, not on the history of education, but cultural histories of killing, fear, rape, and pain, which may explain why this volume is much livelier than most university histories. When the vice-chancellor, to her surprise, asked her to write it, he agreed that it could be written “warts and all” because he did not want a “dry chronicle” but “a book that people would enjoy reading”. He has got what he asked for, partly because of his excellent choice of author and because Birkbeck has an exceptionally interesting and complex history compared with other universities. …