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Caian Dr Michael Taylor (History 2007) has been shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing for his book  (Bodley Head). He discusses the book, his research and career, and life at Caius, including the 2015 University Challenge win and cricket.

“The book is almost entirely based on the doctoral work I did when I was at Caius. But it’s also unrecognisable from the PhD itself,” Dr Michael Taylor says of his book,  (Bodley Head), which has been shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

His 2011 PhD proposal discussed the relationship between the Bible and Theology and the defence of slavery in Britain, but the PhD grew.

He adds: “I realised there hadn’t been much work in pro-slavery politics, or the political campaigning of slave holders against abolitionism in the UK.”

Leaving academia meant his evidence-heavy, source-based PhD was not turned into a monograph, and instead he embarked on writing a flowing and compelling narrative, with additional research.

“Some of the better parts of the book are completely new,” he says.

Dr Taylor describes being shortlisted for the award, the winner of which will be announced on Wednesday 23 June, as an honour and something of a surprise.

“The events of last summer (the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd) have given the book a political relevance which had it been published in 2017 or 2018 might not have been there,” he adds.

The events of last summer (the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd) have given the book a political relevance which had it been published in 2017 or 2018 might not have been there

His interest in the general topic area stems from a wish to challenge the established thought in his home community that British Christianity swept away slavery.

He says: “It became very clear to me that the idea of Britain as an always and reliably abolitionist nation is just absolute nonsense. It was only until a small group of campaigners and a series of slave rebellions in the Caribbean had persuaded the British Government that abolition was necessary if they wanted to keep the West Indian colonies – and that needs to be emphasised, there wasn’t purely an act of altruism and humanitarianism. There was a deeply cynical pragmatic element to emancipationism and the passage of the abolition act.

“It wasn’t until that was accomplished in 1834 as a matter of chance, contingency and political negotiation that Britain could begin to position itself as an abolitionist nation.

“It happened really quickly, and Britain as a whole managed to recast itself in its desired image very quickly. But the abolitionist core was a very small often very badly treated and poorly regarded section of political society.”

Dr Taylor attended Ballymena Academy, a grammar school in Northern Ireland, and matriculated at Caius in October 2007. He stayed for seven and a half years and still lays claim to a coveted central table seat in the Caius Library, where he wrote his thesis.

Dr Taylor worked as a research associate on a project based at Tel Aviv University and as Lecturer in Modern British History at Balliol College, Oxford after receiving his PhD in 2015, but is now at PWC, specialising in technical research in support of dispute resolution.

“While it might seem like a sea change, in terms of the intellectual process it is very similar,” he says. “The skills you gain from a history degree are almost identical to the skills that are necessary to litigate cases.”

Dr Taylor recalls fondly his time at Caius, which included a stint as MCR Vice-President, a lot of cricket (including a University Blue), and winning University Challenge in 2015. He jokes about being overshadowed in the final when team-mate Ted Loveday answered 11 starter questions correctly in the victory.

Cricket takes place in Easter Term and provided a mechanism to focus on his work and manage his time.

He adds: “In the summer term in my final undergraduate year, both before and after exams, I played something like 41 days of cricket. That sounds excessive, but cricket helped me to concentrate and compartmentalise how I was going to work.

“It was good practise for working in the corporate world, playing cricket and writing a book at the same time!”

Dr Taylor is now working on his second book, which is due for submission at the end of 2022, titled: Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin and religion in Victorian Britain.

“It’s about another 19^th century culture war: the discovery of dinosaurs and the development of palaeontology and geology, eventually Darwinism and evolution, and how all of these new ideas and discoveries affected how Britons thought about science and religion.

“I’m just living out a childhood dream of being able to read about dinosaurs.”

He adds: “I do look back on Caius very fondly. Historians, in particular, are very lucky to have some of the best and most generous people working in academic history as their mentors – Sujit (Sivasundaram), Melissa (Calaresu) and Peter (Mandler) are wonderful guides both to history and to Cambridge.

“I’ve had the benefit of studying at The Cambridge history college, and teaching at The Oxford history College. So go to Caius or Balliol!”