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Tom Holland (author)

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For other people named Tom Holland, seeTom Holland (disambiguation).

Tom Holland

FRSL
Holland in February 2020
Holland in February 2020
BornThomas Holland
(1968-01-05)5 January 1968(age 56)
Oxford,England
Occupation
LanguageEnglish
Alma materQueens' College, Cambridge
University of Oxford
GenreLiterary fiction,non-fiction, history
Notable worksRubicon(2003)
Persian Fire(2005)
In the Shadow of the Sword(2012)
Dominion(2019)
Spouse
Sadie Lowry
​
(m.1993)​
Children2
RelativesJames Holland(brother) Charles Holland(great-uncle)
Website
tom-holland.org/

Thomas HollandFRSL(born 5 January 1968) is an English author andpopular historianwho has published best-selling books on topics includingclassicalandmedieval history,and the origins ofIslam.

He has worked with the BBC to create and host historical television documentaries, and presented the radio seriesMaking History.He co-hostsThe Rest is Historypodcast.

Early life and education[edit]

Holland was born inOxfordshireand brought up in the village ofBroad ChalkenearSalisbury,Wiltshire, England,[1]the elder of two sons. His younger brotherJames Hollandis also an author whose focus isWorld War II.[2]He has said that his two passions as a child were dinosaurs and ancient civilisations: "I had the classic small boy's fascination with dinosaurs – because they're glamorous, dangerous and extinct – and essentially the appeal of the empires of antiquity is much the same. There's a splendour and a terror about them that appealed to me – and that kind of emotional attachment is something that stays with you."[3]

Holland attendedChafyn Grovepreparatory school[4]and the independentCanford School[5]inDorset.He then went on toQueens' College, Cambridge,[6]graduating with a "double first" (first-class honours in both parts I and II of the course of study in the EnglishTripos).[7]He began working on a doctoral dissertation onLord Byron,atOxford University,but soon quit after deciding that he was "fed up with universities and fed up with being poor"[1]and instead began working.[8]

Writing career[edit]

Novels[edit]

Holland's first books wereGothic horrornovels about vampires, set in various time periods throughout history.

His first novel,The Vampyre: Being the True Pilgrimage of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron(1995), drew on his knowledge of Lord Byron from his university studies and recast the 19th-century poet as a vampire. It was re-titledLord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byronfor the 1996 U.S. release. TheLos Angeles Timescalled it "a good vampire yarn—elevated and elegant enough to make you feel you needn't conceal it behind the dust jacket of some self-help work, yet happily gory and perilous" although they felt "the newly plowed plot ground is sometimes hurried through as if to get to the scholarly stuff, where the author feels perhaps on more solid ground."[9]Its sequel,Supping with Panthers,was published in 1996 (it was also re-titled for the U.S. release, toSlave of My Thirst).[10]

Holland stayed with the supernatural horror genre for his next few books, continuing to use his knowledge of ancient cultures and settings. InAttis(1996), he took historical figures from the ancientRoman RepubliclikePompeyand the poetCatullusand put them in a modern setting among a string of brutal murders. He set 1997'sDeliver Us From Evilin 17th-century England, with a man named Faustus leading an army of the undead. 1999'sSleeper in the Sandsis set in Egypt, starting with the discovery of theTomb of Tutankhamunin 1922 and travelling backward in time as a deadly secret is unveiled.[8]

Holland's last novel to date departed from the supernatural genre.The Bone Hunter(1999) is a thriller, set in the United States, about the rivalry between two 19th-centurypaleontologistsaround whom people begin dying.[11]

Historical non-fiction books[edit]

While doing research forThe Bone Hunter,Holland readFrom Alexander to Actiumby historianPeter Greenand his childhood passion for ancient history and civilisations was reignited.

All my old fascination with antiquity just went Whoosh! up again. From that moment I started re-immersing myself in that world. I had a sense that antiquity was almost like a science fiction world, that it was utterly remote and yet eerily like our own. I was doing vampire books at the time and it never crossed my mind to write history–but I was finding that my real interests were welling up, and the vampire books were really historical novels, and that I was much less interested in the fiction than in the research.

He gave up writing fiction and turned to writing history.[3]

His first book of history,Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic,was published in 2003 and garnered positive reviews. It was called "gripping and hugely entertaining" byThe Sunday Times,[12]"informative, balanced and accessible" byBookPage,[13]and "a model of exactly how a popular history of the classical world should be written" byThe Guardian.[14]Rubiconwon the 2004Hessell-Tiltman Prize,awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content.[15]

Persian Fire(2005) is an account of the 5th-century B.C.Greco-Persian Wars.It was reviewed positively byPaul Cartledge,a professor of Greek history at Cambridge University, forThe Independent:"IfPersian Firedoes not win theSamuel Johnson Prize,there is no justice in this world. "[16]Writing inThe Sunday Telegraph,historianDominic Sandbrookcalled it "riveting" and praised the "enormous strengths" of the author.[17]It won theAnglo-Hellenic League's 2006Runciman Award.[18]

Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom(2008) examines the two centuries either side of the seminal year 1000 A.D., and how Western Europe ascended out of the Dark Ages, to become a leading world civilisation once again.Noel Malcolmreviewed it forThe Daily Telegraphand called it "a tremendously good read", but criticised the lack of detail about historical evidence and Holland's "elevated" style of prose.[19]Christina Hardyment,reviewing it forThe Independent,praised Holland's writing style, saying he "excels at narration, never jogging when he can gallop... His highly individual road map to the hitherto 'dark ages' is written with forceful – and convincing – panache."[20]

Holland's book on the rise of Islam,In the Shadow of the Sword(2012), was called "a work of impressive sensitivity and scholarship" byThe Daily Telegraph[21]and "a book of extraordinary richness... For Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past, without sacrificing factual integrity" byThe Independent.[22]But it was criticised by historianGlen BowersockinThe Guardianas being written in "a swashbuckling style that aims more to unsettle his readers than to instruct them... irresponsible and unreliable".[23]

Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar(2015) covers the reigns of the five emperors of Rome'sJulio-Claudian dynasty,fromAugustustoNero.Classics professorEmily Wilson,reviewing it forThe Guardian,was critical of the "overblown style" and narrative's lurid details, saying, "this is ancient Rome for the age ofDonald Trump".[24]But in his review forThe Observer,Nick Cohenwrote "Among the many virtues of Tom Holland's terrific history is that he does not shrink from seeing the Roman emperors for what they were: 'the west's primal examples of tyranny'."[25]

Holland next wrote two short historical biographies. The first,Athelstan: The Making of England(2016), is part of the 'PenguinMonarchs' series and covers the life ofÆthelstan,the 10th-century ruler regarded as the first king of England.[26]The second,Æthelflæd: England's Forgotten Founder(2019) is an entry in theLadybird Expertseries, and tells of Athelstan's aunt (and daughter ofAlfred the Great),Æthelflæd,who ruled theAnglo-Saxonkingdom ofMerciain the early 10th century.[27]

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind(titledDominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the Worldfor the U.S.), was published in 2019. It is an examination of Christianity's influence on Western civilisation in which Holland maintains that the religion's influence continues to be seen in ethics and cultural norms throughout the world today, even when the religion itself is rejected: "To live in a western country is to live in a society still utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions."[28]Dominionreceived positive reviews, withKirkus Reviewscalling it "astute and thoughtful",[29]andPublishers Weeklysaying that "entertaining is too light a term and instructive is too heavy a term for a rich work that is enjoyably both".[30]Reviewing it forThe Times,Emeritus Professor of History at the University of St AndrewsGerard DeGrootargued that much of what Holland attributes to Christian influence is simply humanity evolving the need to work together for survival, but said "I have to commend the originality of this book, not to mention [Holland's] brave ambition."[31]

Other writing[edit]

Holland's translation ofThe HistoriesbyHerodotus,the ancient Greek scholar, was published in 2013.[32]Although Holland had studied Latin at school, his Greek is completely self-taught, and he set himself the task of translating one paragraph of the over-800-pageHistoriesevery day until he finished.[2]Kirkus Reviewscalled his translation "a feast for students of ancient history and budding historians of any period."[33]Classics scholarEdith Hallreviewed it forThe Times Literary Supplementand said it was "unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the past half-century, and there have been quite a few... I am in awe of Tom Holland's achievement."

Holland has written dozens of articles for newspapers, journals and websites on varied topics including wildlife conservation,[34]sports,[35][36]politics[37]and history.[38][39]He also writes occasional book reviews forThe Guardian.[40][41][42]

Holland has also written for the stage. His first play,The Importance of Being Frank,told the story of Oscar Wilde's imprisonment and trial. His second wasDeath of a Maid,which focused on the life of Joan of Arc. In March 2019, he announced on Twitter that he had written an opera aboutCleopatraand it was in the showcase stage of development.[43]

Holland was one of the inaugural contributors to the popular Classics website Antigone.[44]

Radio[edit]

Holland adapted the writings of classical Greek and Roman authors Herodotus,Homer,Thucydides,andVirgilfor a series of broadcasts onBBC Radio 4.[45]In 2001, Radio Four also broadcast a dramatic play he wrote based on Thucydides'History of the Peloponnesian War,titledOur Man in Athens.It presented the narrative as that of a veteran war reporter under siege in the studios of Radio Free Athens.[46]

From 2011, he was one of the presenters of Radio 4's popular history seriesMaking History.[47]

Television documentaries[edit]

Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters[edit]

In February 2011, Holland wrote and presentedDinosaurs, Myths and Monsters,aBBC Fourtelevision programme. It explored the influence offossilson themythologyof various cultures throughout history, including the ancient Greeks and Native Americans.[48]

Islam: The Untold Story[edit]

Main article:Islam: The Untold Story

In August 2012, Holland produced and presented a documentary forChannel 4television titledIslam: The Untold Story,[49]which questioned Islamic doctrine that maintainsMuhammadfounded the religion inMeccain the 7th century, and that theQuranwas transmitted, in full, directly to Muhammad byAllah(God) via the angelGabriel,rather than being written by a person or persons. Holland argued that there is very little contemporary historical evidence about the life of Muhammad, with no mention of him at all in historical texts until decades after his death, and no mention of Mecca in any datable text relating to him until over a century after he died. He concluded that it is much more likely that Islamic theology developed gradually over several centuries as the Arab Empire expanded, and that descriptions of Muhammad's home more closely resemble what is now southern Israel than Mecca.[50][51]

Holland said the program provoked "a firestorm of death threats" against him.Islam: The Untold Storygenerated more than 1,200 complaints in total toOfcomandChannel 4,[52][53]though Ofcom found there was no breach of its broadcasting code to investigate.[54]A planned screening ofIslam: The Untold Storybefore an audience of historians was cancelled, due to security concerns over threats received by Holland as a result of the documentary. Several religious scholars, including Dr.Jenny Taylor,founder of theLapido MediaCentre for Religious Literacy in World Affairs, and Dr. Keith Small of the International Qur'anic Studies Association, defended Holland and the right of historians to critically examine the origin stories of religions.[55]

Writing on the Channel 4 website, Holland responded to the criticism by claiming that the origins of Islam is a "legitimate subject of historical enquiry" and that his documentary was "a historical endeavour and is not a critique of one of the major monotheistic religions".[53]

Isis: The Origins of Violence[edit]

In 2017, Holland revisited the topic of Islam by writing and presenting another documentary for Channel 4.Isis: The Origins of Violencelooked at the militant terror groupISISand argued that they use Islamic doctrine to inform and justify their quest for a globalcaliphate.[56]

In the film, Holland visited the site of the 2015Bataclan theatre massacrein Paris, interviewed aSalafi jihadistleader in Jordan, and then went to the Iraqi city ofSinjar,which had historically been largely populated by theYazidiminority. In 2014, ISIS forces swept into the city and killed most of the Yazidi men and old women, taking the young women as sex slaves and the young boys to train as ISIS soldiers. At one point, Holland was shown approaching a pit filled with the remains of Yazidi women whom Isis considered too old to be used as sex slaves, and then had to vomit off-camera.[57]

In an interview with theEvening Standardto promote the film, he said "Just as Nazis justified genocide in terms of racial theory, there are Islamic scholars who justify it in terms of what the Koran says. Not to engage with that, to pretend that's not an issue, is essentially to be complicit in genocide." He also said that westerners are wrong to blame their own foreign policy for the existence of ISIS: "We want to believe we have agency. We want to believe it's about foreign policy — because then we can do something about it. But you just have to readDabiq[the ISIS magazine]. They say upfront: 'We hate you because you're not Muslim'. "[58]

Although some Muslim groups once again registered their disapproval of the programme's content and of Channel 4 for airing it, Holland stated their reaction this time was much less severe than withIslam: The Untold Story.[59]JournalistPeter Obornewrote a rebuttal to it on the websiteMiddle East Eyetitled "No, Channel 4: Islam is not responsible for the Islamic State", in which he stated that the2003 invasion of Iraqis responsible for ISIS, not Islamic teachings.[60]

Activism[edit]

Conservation[edit]

Holland has campaigned and written articles in support of measures to save London's disappearinghedgehogpopulation.[34][61]

He is an opponent of the proposedStonehenge road tunneland other development projects that threaten landscapes around Britain's historic sites and since 2018 has been president of the Stonehenge Alliance, a group dedicated to stopping construction of the tunnel (or at least convincing the government to redesign it from the planned 1.8 miles in length to a longer, deep bored tunnel of at least 2.8 miles that would be less obtrusive to theWorld Heritage Site).[62][63]In 2017, he said of the Stonehenge tunnel: "The issue is whether Stonehenge exists to provide a tourist experience, or whether it is something more significant, both historically and spiritually. It has stood there for 4,500 years. And up to now, no one's thought of injecting enormous quantities of concrete into the landscape and permanently disfiguring it."[64]

Politics[edit]

In August 2014, Holland and fellow historianDan Snoworganised 200 British public figures in signing a letter to the people of Scotland, published byThe Guardian,expressing the hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in the September 2014referendum on that issue.The letter read in part "We want to let you know how very much we value our bonds of citizenship with you, and to express our hope that you will vote to renew them. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together." Among the signatories were SirAndrew Lloyd Webber,Mick Jagger,DameJudi DenchandStephen Hawking.[65]

Earlier that year, he had voiced his desire for the United Kingdom to stay a part of theEuropean Union,saying: "I would like to remain a citizen of the European Union, but I would like even more to continue in a country that includes Scotland... the likelier it seems the United Kingdom will leave the EU, the likelier Scotland is to leave the United Kingdom. I don't want to be a Little Englander. I want to stay European, and I want to stay British."[66]After Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, Holland stated that he himself had voted Remain, but that sinceBrexithad been chosen by the people in a democratic vote, the government had to carry through with it. He posted on his Twitter account in October 2018: "Brexit has to happen – anything else would be undemocratic. But the result was close, close, close – so the Brexit settlement should properly accept that. I'm sure that's what most people feel."[67]

In 2017, Holland joined Scottish businessman/blogger Kevin Hague and history professorAli Ansarito create a newthink tankwhich they named "These Islands". It is devoted to stimulating positive debate about Britain's identity, Brexit and the Scottish independence issue, and promoting the idea that staying united as a nation is beneficial to all the countries that make up Great Britain. A number of academics and activists have contributed papers to the These Islands website.[68][69]

In 2019, Holland was a signatory on a public letter toThe GuardiandenouncingJeremy Corbyn,leader of theLabour Partyand candidate forPrime Minister,forantisemitism.[70]In an article forThe Telegraph,he wrote that Corbyn's support for Palestinian activistRaed Salahwas particularly offensive to him due to Salah's spread of theblood libel,which originated in England in the 12th century: "England, as the birthplace of this most toxic of lies, has a particular responsibility to take a stand against it. Taking a stand against it, however, is something that Jeremy Corbyn, by backing a promoter of the blood libel, has failed to do."[71]

Yazidi[edit]

While filmingIsis: Origins of Evil,Holland interviewedYazidirefugees, survivors of an ethnoreligious population of northern Iraq who in 2014 suffered the mass murder of many of their men and older women, and the kidnapping of their children and young women, byISIS.In 2017, he wrote an article forThe Spectatorin which he implored the Western world not to forget the Yazidi. In it, he detailed what ISIS had inflicted upon the Yazidi:

"Yazidis [were] shot and thrown like refuse into pits; men and boys beheaded in front of their families; girls as young as eight subjected to gang rape; beatings; forced conversions; torture; slavery. In a camp I visited, a woman who had been raped for an entire year, then shot in the head when her owner grew tired of her, then finally sold back to her husband, lay curled in a foetal ball in a makeshift tent, rocking and moaning to herself."[72]

In June 2018, he gave an interview toJames Delingpoleon the latter's podcast and spoke about Western apathy toward the Yazidis' suffering: "Nobody in the West really gives a shit. And the reason nobody gives a shit, as a Yazidi refugee I spoke to said, is that in the West you have Christians, you have Muslims, you have Jews who all speak up for their co-religionists, but who cares about the Yazidi? Who cares about them?"[73]

In June 2019, he joined several other speakers in addressing an assembly ofmembers of Parliamentin the Grand Committee room of theHouse of Commons,[74]where he spoke about the cruelties inflicted upon the Yazidi.[75]

Antisemitism[edit]

Holland has written about historicalantisemitismin England. He has also argued that one can draw connections between it and more recent antisemitic attitudes expressed by members of theBritish Labour Partyunder the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.[76]

Views[edit]

Education[edit]

Holland has been a proponent of state education over private, saying in 2014:

The wealth that the leading [independent] schools can call upon has become obscene. How can state-funded schools possibly compete with sports fields and state-of-the-art facilities that have seen sport, acting and even popular music dominated by the privately educated? Which said, I am not convinced that the teaching in private schools is any better than in state schools. Our local primary school has teachers as good as any you could hope to meet, and when I compare the start that it has given my children to that given to the prep-school pupils I know, I do not remotely feel that my children have come off second-best. Just the opposite, in fact.[66]

He supported the plan bySecretary of State for EducationMichael Goveto spread the teaching of Latin in state schools, saying in 2014:

Traditionally, an education in ancient languages has served as a marker of privilege – which is why public schools have always been so keen on providing it. I don't see, though, why children should be deprived of the riches of classical civilisation, just because they are in the state system... It is not an elitist policy but the precise opposite: impeccably progressive.[66]

Christianity[edit]

Although his father is an atheist, Holland was raised in the Christian church by his "devoutAnglican"mother, and he said in 2013 that because of her example" I've always associated Anglicanism with goodness and decency and generosity of spirit and compassion, so I never had that visceral association of Christianity or institutional religion with repression or dogma or illiberalism. "[77]Nonetheless, as an adult he disavowed belief in the existence of God, saying "I have seen no evidence that would satisfy me that anything supernatural exists. I have seen no proof for god."[77]

In 2016, he wrote an article titled "Why I Was Wrong About Christianity" for theNew Statesman,in which he said that he had come to realise he was incorrect to have thought in the past that his own western values derived from the Greece and Rome of antiquity and owed nothing to Christianity:

Familiarity with the biblical narrative of the crucifixion has dulled our sense of just how completely novel a deity Christ was... [Christianity] is the principal reason why, by and large, most of us who live in post-Christian societies still take for granted that it is nobler to suffer than to inflict suffering. It is why we generally assume that every human life is of equal value. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.[78]

On July 2, 2024,The Timespublished aletter to the editor,co-signed by Holland and numerous other Catholic and non-Catholic public figures, calling upon theHoly Seeto preserve what they describe as the "magnificent" cultural artifact of the Catholic Church'sTraditional Latin Mass.[79]

Islam and the Islamic State[edit]

He has defended himself from critics who have suggested that his views on Islam and its origins are rooted inIslamophobia,saying that he merely believes Islam should receive the same kind of historical analysis that other religions do. In 2013, he said in an interview withThe Daily Telegraph:"Islam is like a shot of caffeine into British culture. It adds a new dimension to the world, it enriches the variety and scope of our intellectual life."[32]

In March 2015, Holland published a piece titled "We must not deny the religious roots of Islamic State" in theNew Statesman.It argued that the jihadis ofISIScall themselves Islamic and use text from the Quran to justify their actions, so therefore people like the writerMehdi Hasanought not to claim they are not Muslims, as Hasan had in the previous week's issue. Holland wrote that "It is not merely coincidence that ISIS currently boasts a caliph, imposes quranically mandated taxes, topples idols, chops the hands off thieves, stones adulterers, executes homosexuals and carries a flag that bears the Muslim declaration of faith."[80]In 2017, he said "The mistake people make is to replicate Isis's position, which is that there's one, true form of Islam and anyone who deviates from that isn't a Muslim. That's Isis's justification for killing Shia. Ironically, when Western leaders say 'it's nothing to do with Islam', they're doing the same. I don't think it's the business—particularly of non-Muslims—to specify what a Muslim is. If people say they're Muslim, they're Muslim."[58]

In May 2015, Holland gave the inauguralChristopher HitchensLecture at theHay Festival,in which he addressed the subject ofDe-Radicalising Muhammad.[81]In an interview he gave to the literary websiteQuadraphemethe following month he explained that he wanted the lecture to promote discussion of the wayMuhammad's life is interpreted, arguing that his "mythos lies at the core of what is pernicious in the goings-on of Islamic State and other radicals."[82]

Personal life[edit]

Holland married Sadie, amidwife,[2]on 31 July 1993.[83]The couple have two daughters[2]and live inBrixton,London.[1]

He is the great-nephew of Olympic cyclistCharles Holland,[84]the first Englishman to complete theTour de France.[85]He is not related to actorTom Holland.

Holland is a prolific user of the social media siteTwitter.He joined the site in January 2011, and as of July 2022, had sent out over 207,000 tweets.[86]

In 2016, Holland was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[87]

He is a keencricketfan and player and abowler(fast-medium) for theAuthors XIteam, which is composed of prominent British writers. He contributed a chapter toThe Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon,a 2013 book collectively written by the team about their first season playing together.[88]He also wrote an article for theFinancial Timesabout receiving batting training from his cricketing hero,Alastair Cook.[89]

Written works[edit]

Series fiction[edit]

  • Holland, Tom(1995).The Vampyre: Being the True Pilgrimage of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron (published in the U.S. as Lord of the Dead).London:Hachette UK.ISBN0-316-91227-1.
  • ——— (1996).Supping with Panthers (published in the U.S. as Slave of My Thirst).London:Hachette UK.ISBN0-316-87622-4.

Fiction[edit]

Short fiction[edit]

Plays[edit]

Non-fiction[edit]

Translation[edit]

Radio broadcasts[edit]

  • Our Man in Athens(writer) 30 July 2001, Radio 4
  • Making History(presenter) 2011–2020, Radio 4

Television broadcasts[edit]

  • Dinosaurs, Myth and Monsters(writer and presenter) 14 September 2011, BBC Four
  • Islam: The Untold Story(writer and presenter) 28 August 2012, BBC Four
  • Isis: Origins of Violence(writer and presenter) 17 May 2017, BBC Four

Podcast[edit]

Holland presents a podcast with historianDominic Sandbrook,calledThe Rest is History.[90]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcDodds, Georges (June 1999)."A Conversation with Tom Holland".The SF Site.Retrieved28 April2019.
  2. ^abcdHiggins, Charlotte (28 August 2015)."Tom Holland interview: Caligula, vampires and coping with death threats".The Guardian.Retrieved16 March2019.
  3. ^abRobinson, David (7 April 2019)."Interview: Tom Holland, author of In the Shadow of the Sword".The Scotsman.Retrieved2 May2019.
  4. ^Robson, Linda (2017)."Milford—Chafyn Grove School"(PDF).Wiltshire OPC.Retrieved27 April2019.
  5. ^"Canfordian 2017".issuu.2017.Retrieved27 April2019.
  6. ^'HOLLAND, Thomas (born 5 January 1968)' inWho's Who 2013
  7. ^"Tom Holland: Senior Research Fellow in Ancient History".The University of Buckingham Humanities Research Institute.Retrieved28 April2019.
  8. ^abMathew, David (February 1999)."Vampires, Sand and Horses".Infinity Plus.Retrieved29 April2019.
  9. ^Morrison, Patt (25 February 1999)."Mad, Bad and Dangerous: FICTION: LORD OF THE DEAD: The Secret History Of Byron, By Tom Holland".Los Angeles Times.Retrieved28 April2019.
  10. ^Clarke, Roger (24 August 1996)."Book Review / Vaudevillian vampires and the scent of baloney".The Independent.Retrieved28 April2019.
  11. ^Holland, Tom (1999).The Bone Hunter.Little, Brown.ISBN9780748131075.
  12. ^Frederic, Raphael (17 August 2003)."Review: Ancient history: Rubicon by Tom Holland".The Sunday Times.Retrieved29 April2019.
  13. ^Watts, Justin (February 2004)."Rubicon: Tom Holland".BookPage.Retrieved29 April2019.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^Miles, Richard(7 November 2003)."What the Romans did last".Guardian.Retrieved29 April2019.
  15. ^"Hessell-Tiltman Prize".English PEN. Archived fromthe originalon 13 February 2015.Retrieved31 July2012.
  16. ^Cartledge, Paul (2 September 2005)."Persian Fire: The first world empire and the battle for the west, by Tom Holland".independent.co.uk.
  17. ^Sandbrook, Dominic (18 September 2015)."A civilising influence – Dominic Sandbrook reviewsPersian Fireby Tom Holland ".telegraph.co.uk.
  18. ^"Two Runciman winners named".Kathimerini.6 August 2006.Retrieved29 April2019.
  19. ^Malcolm, Noel (3 October 2008)."Review: Millennium by Tom Holland".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved29 April2019.
  20. ^Hardyment, Christina (10 October 2008)."Millennium by Tom Holland".The Independent.Retrieved29 April2019.
  21. ^Jones, Dan(5 April 2012)."In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland: review".Retrieved21 February2019.
  22. ^Rogerson, Barnaby(30 March 2012)."In The Shadow of the Sword, By Tom Holland".Retrieved21 February2019.
  23. ^Bowersock, Glen (4 May 2012)."In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland – review".The Guardian.Retrieved31 May2017.
  24. ^Wilson, Emily (29 October 2015)."Dynasty by Tom Holland review: The soap opera version of history".The Guardian.Retrieved29 April2019.
  25. ^Cohen, Nick (6 September 2015)."Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar review – deft and skillful".The Observer.Retrieved29 April2019.
  26. ^Holland, Tom (2016).Athelstan: the Making of England.Penguin UK.ISBN978-0241187814.
  27. ^Holland, Tom (2019).Æthelflæd: England's Forgotten Founder.Penguin Random House UK.ISBN978-0718188269.
  28. ^Holland, Tom (2019).Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind.London: Little, Brown.ISBN978-1408706954.
  29. ^"Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland".Kirkus Reviews.1 August 2019.
  30. ^"Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World".Publishers Weekly.October 2019.Retrieved19 September2019.
  31. ^DeGroot, Gerard (23 August 2019)."Dominion by Tom Holland review — are we all children of the Christian revolution?".The Times.Retrieved19 September2019.
  32. ^abRahim, Sameer (6 October 2013)."Tom Holland: 'The Histories are a great shaggy-dog story'".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved7 May2019.
  33. ^"The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland".Kirkus Reviews.19 May 2014.Retrieved7 May2019.
  34. ^abHolland, Tom (30 March 2017)."A prickly tale: historian Tom Holland on his quest to save the hedgehog vanishing from London life".Evening Standard.Retrieved5 May2019.
  35. ^Holland, Tom (9 October 2014)."Kevin Pietersen is a hero for our age: Beowulf, Achilles and Lancelot in one".The Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  36. ^Holland, Tom (June 2014)."Of Myths and Origins"(PDF).Nightwatchman.Retrieved6 May2019.
  37. ^Holland, Tom (10 November 2018)."Decline and fall: why America always thinks it's going the way of Rome".The Spectator.Retrieved6 May2019.
  38. ^Holland, Tom (9 April 2019)."Britain's First Brexit was the Hardest".Unherd.Retrieved6 May2019.
  39. ^Holland, Tom (28 February 2019)."The Romans took their graffiti seriously – especially the phalluses".The Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  40. ^Holland, Tom (19 January 2019)."The Wall by John Lanchester review – 'The Others are coming'".The Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  41. ^Holland, Tom (25 September 2010)."The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson; Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley; and Egyptian Dawn by Robert Temple".The Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  42. ^Holland, Tom (17 April 2019)."The Dinosaurs Rediscovered review – a transformation in our understanding".Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  43. ^@Holland_Tom (11 March 2019)."Huge Excitement"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  44. ^"Caesars and Sopranos: The Shadow of Suetonius".10 March 2021.
  45. ^Miles, Richard (8 November 2003)."Review: Rubicon by Tom Holland".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved5 July2019.
  46. ^OUR MAN IN ATHENS,retrieved5 July2019
  47. ^"BBC Radio 4 – Making History, 15/11/2011".BBC.Retrieved5 July2019.
  48. ^"Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters".BBC.Retrieved14 October2012.
  49. ^"Islam – The Untold Story".Channel 4. Archived fromthe originalon 22 August 2012.Retrieved30 August2012.
  50. ^Holland, Tom (8 January 2015)."Viewpoint: The roots of the battle for free speech".BBC News Magazine.Retrieved14 January2015.
  51. ^kern, soeren (21 September 2012)."Britain: Islam Documentary Cancelled Amid Threats of Physical Violence".Gatestone Institute.Retrieved1 May2019.
  52. ^O'Carroll, Lisa (3 September 2012)."Channel 4 documentary Islam: The Untold Story receives 1,200 complaints".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved16 November2019.
  53. ^ab"Channel 4's Islam film sparks row".BBC News.3 September 2012.Retrieved1 May2019.
  54. ^Sweney, Mark (8 October 2012)."Ofcom will not investigate Channel 4 documentary on origins of Islam".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved6 January2020.
  55. ^Taylor, Jenny (5 September 2012)."Tom Holland's Islam Film: The Scholar vs. the Booby".Lapido Media.Archived fromthe originalon 1 May 2019.Retrieved1 May2019.
  56. ^Mark Lawson (17 May 2017)."Isis: The Origins of Violence – a brave documentary that will start many a fight".The Guardian.Retrieved21 February2019.
  57. ^Murray, Douglas (18 May 2017)."The British broadcaster brave enough to discuss Islamic violence".The Spectator.Archived fromthe originalon 12 September 2019.Retrieved1 May2019.
  58. ^abUrwin, Rosamund (17 May 2017)."Historian Tom Holland on Isis, receiving death threats and why there is a 'civil war' in the Muslim world".Evening Standard.Retrieved3 May2019.
  59. ^Marshall, Tim (26 May 2017)."An Interview With...Tom Holland".The What & the Why.Retrieved3 May2019.
  60. ^Oborne, Peter (25 July 2017)."No, Channel 4: Islam is not responsible for the Islamic State".Middle East Eye.Retrieved2 May2019.
  61. ^Holland, Tom (9 September 2018)."If we love hedgehogs so much, why are we letting them vanish?".The Guardian.Retrieved6 May2019.
  62. ^"About us".Stonehenge Alliance.Retrieved15 June2019.
  63. ^"What we are campaigning for".Stonehenge Alliance.Retrieved15 June2019.
  64. ^Harris, John (25 April 2017)."The Stonehenge tunnel: 'A monstrous act of desecration is brewing'".The Guardian.Retrieved5 May2019.
  65. ^"Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories".The Guardian.London. 7 August 2014.Retrieved26 August2014.
  66. ^abcHolland, Tom (7 February 2014)."The Big Questions: Should Latin be taught in state schools? Is flooding in the UK a fact of life? Should Tube workers have gone on strike?".The Independent.Retrieved5 May2019.
  67. ^@Holland_Tom (20 October 2018)."Brexit has to happen"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  68. ^Studemann, Frederick (8 November 2017)."Brexit and Britain's fraught democratic experiment".Financial Times.Retrieved10 May2019.
  69. ^"These Islands: Uniting Not Dividing".These Islands.2017.Retrieved10 May2019.
  70. ^Mason, Rowena; Perraudin, Frances (14 November 2019)."Labour antisemitism row: public figures say they cannot vote for party under Corbyn".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved30 November2019.
  71. ^Tom Holland (16 November 2019)."As a historian of England's shameful anti-Semitic past, I dread the idea of Prime Minister Corbyn".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved30 November2019.
  72. ^Holland, Tom (12 August 2017)."Don't forget the Yazidis: To avoid the next genocide, remember the last".Spectator.Retrieved17 June2019.
  73. ^"Delingpole: Tom Holland – author, historian".Podtail.7 June 2018.Retrieved17 June2019.
  74. ^"Plight of the Yezidi people: an unlamented & unresolved genocide – HoC".eventbrite.25 June 2019.Retrieved28 June2019.
  75. ^Tugendhat, Tom (25 June 2019)."Listening to @holland_tom talk about the brutal murder, enslavement and torture of the Yazidi people is deeply moving. The cruelty shown to these people cries out for justice and that starts with recognition.pic.twitter /9fAEEkhhif".@TomTugendhat.Retrieved28 June2019.
  76. ^Tom Holland (16 November 2019)."As a historian of England's shameful anti-Semitic past, I dread the idea of Prime Minister Corbyn".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved29 December2020.
  77. ^abShaha, Alom (20 December 2013)."'Secularism is Christianity's greatest gift to the world'".New Humanist.Retrieved5 May2019.
  78. ^Holland, Tom (14 September 2016)."Tom Holland: Why I was wrong about Christianity".New Statesman.Retrieved5 May2019.
  79. ^"Letters to the editor".The Times.Retrieved4 July2024.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  80. ^newstatesman: "Tom Holland: We must not deny the religious roots of Islamic State",17 March 2015
  81. ^"Tom Holland".Hay Festival.25 May 2015.
  82. ^"Mission Impossible? An Interview with Tom Holland | Quadrapheme".quadrapheme.Retrieved28 October2015.
  83. ^Holland, Tom (30 July 2019)."Massively looking forward to celebrating my 26th wedding anniversary tomorrow with @sadieholland67 by walking London's sleaziest vanished river, the #Neckinger".@holland_tom.Retrieved30 July2019.
  84. ^Holland, Tom (2 August 2019)."Listening to my father talk about his Uncle Charlie, the second best #EliteInternationalSportsman in the Holland family, I discover to my astonishment & pride that he once had a trial for @AVFCOfficial!!!!!!".Twitter.Retrieved2 August2019.
  85. ^Bingham, Keith (27 September 2007)."TOUR TIME CAPSULE FOUND IN ATTIC".Cycling Weekly.Retrieved2 August2019.
  86. ^"Tom Holland".Twitter.July 2022.Retrieved2 July2022.
  87. ^"Tom Holland".The Royal Society of Literature.Retrieved26 April2018.
  88. ^Authors Cricket Club (2013).The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon.London: Bloomsbury.ISBN978-1-4088-4045-0.
  89. ^Holland, Tom (15 November 2013)."FT Masterclass: Batting with Alastair Cook".Financial Times.Retrieved26 August2014.
  90. ^Cunliffe, Rachel (20 April 2022)."The Rest is History is breathtaking in its scope".New Statesman.Retrieved27 July2022.

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