Paul Ham

I write about war and political conflict. Sometimes I cheer up and write about philosophy and religion. I teach narrative history part-time at Sciences Po in France (though I'm on a prolonged break) and I've written around 14 books (see my website and Wikipedia page for details). My latest effort is called 'The Soul: A History of the Human Mind', to be published by Penguin Random House in 2024. It seeks to show that beliefs – religious, political and ideological – are the engines of history. I am also the creator of a coming substack column, 'Who made our minds?', a weekly probe of the greatest, maddest and most dangerous brains of the past 5,000 years.