Military Historian: My Part in the Birth and Development of War Studies 1966-2016

This is the story of how a boy from a poor background benefited from the new opportunities available in the post—1945 era to attend a very good grammar school, gain entry to Oxford University and eventually became a professor at a top grade university, King’s College, London.

Early chapters show how hard it was to get a foothold on the lowest rungs of the academic ladder, particularly in a subject, military history, where there were virtually no established positions. No matter how talented ...