Historian, author and host of the podcast Empire William Dalrymple on making history sexy

We tend to think of history as a straightforward record of what happened, but historian and bestselling author William Dalrymple says that’s wishful thinking.

“You do get some malevolent attempts to rewrite history,” says Dalrymple, the acclaimed author of 10 books and co-host of the Empire podcast.

“[US President Donald] Trump is a particularly good example of someone who has manipulated the historical record in order, bizarrely, to try and see slavery in a more positive light, which seems to me what you really cannot see in a positive light, whatever angle you’re coming from,” he says.

Speaking ahead of his Australian tour this week, Dalrymple says this political manipulation – Trump has called out “unpatriotic historians teaching people to be ashamed of their history” – is the gr