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A surprising history of the index
Historian Dennis Duncan guides us through singular stories from the history of the book index
The index, the bit at the back of a book you mostly only turn to for reference, has a bit of a dowdy reputation – and it’s an unfair one. Dennis Duncan discusses the index’s surprising history: one that has saved heretics from the stake, kept politicians from office and proved a battleground for snarky academic rivalries.
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Dennis Duncan is the author of Index, A Brief History of the (Allen Lane, 2021)
Kev Lochun is Deputy Digital Editor of HistoryExtra.com and previously Deputy Editor of BBC History Revealed. As well as commissioning content from expert historians, he can also be found interviewing them on the award-winning HistoryExtra podcast.
