Introduction: Various Famous Fives have been categorized and reported in some different documents. The Famous Five may refer to: 1. The Famous Five (Women: A group of Canadian women who were proponents in a landmark women's rights case). 2. The Famous Five (Football: The Hibernian Football Club forward line during the late 1940s and early 1950s). 3. The Famous Five (Series: Enid Blyton's series of books). 4. The Famous Five (Film: A German adaptation of the Famous Five). 5. The Famous Five (Former name of Spiro band, a music group based in Bristol, England). 6. The Famous Five (Schoolfellows of Billy Bunter at Greyfriars School). 7. The Famous Five (Kids: A group of children who have the sort of adventures most kids dream about). 8. The Famous Five or the Fabulous Five (Rat Pack or the Clan, featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop). In this article the life stories and works of the contemporary Famous Five Historians, as selected by this author; are presented and linked to more information.
1. Richard Cavendish
Life Story & Works: Richard Cavendish (born 1930) is a British historian who has written extensively on the subjects of occultism, religion, the tarot, mythology, and English history. Cavendish was educated at Bluecoat Charity School and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he specialized in medieval studies. He has written both on the political and social history of Britain and on the history of folk magic and occultism in the British Isles and Europe. Among his best-known works are The Black Arts, The Tarot, and A History of Magic. He also writes regularly for the British journal History Today. Cavendish's work is highly regarded for its depth of research and agnostic stance towards its sometimes controversial subject matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cavendish_(occult_writer)
Occultism is the study of occult practices, including (but not limited to) magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion, and divination. Interpretation of occultism and its concepts can be found in the belief structures of philosophies and religions such as Chaos magic, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Wicca, Thelema and modern paganism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occultism#Occultism
Occultism has been mentioned in Koran 34 times/ Persian Website:
http://intjz.net/maqalat/sh-elm%20ghib.html
When Richard Cavendish was asked to name the most important historian, he replied that, "The most important historian is Fernand Braudel for the huge scope of his books on the history of the Mediterranean, civilisation and capitalism and the rest. His focus on social and economic developments and on the lives of so-called ‘ordinary’ people have been tremendously influential".
http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/11/historians-historians
2. Afsaneh Najmabadi
Life Story & Works: Afsaneh Najmabadi (born 1946) is an Iranian-American historian and gender theorist. She is professor of History and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. At present she chairs the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She is further Associate Editor of Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, in six volumes. Afsaneh Najmabadi moved as student from University of Tehran to Radcliffe College in 1966. She obtained her BA in physics in 1968 from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and her MA in physics in 1970 from Harvard University. Following this, she pursued social studies, combining academic interests with engagement in social activism, first in the United States of America and later in Iran. She obtained her PhD in sociology in 1984 from University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Najmabadi has been Nemazee Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University (1984–1985), Fellow at Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Brown University (1988–1989), at Harvard Divinity School (Women's Studies in Religion Program) (1988–1989), at Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University (1994–1995), and at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (2000–2001). After nine years of teaching and research at the Department of Women's Studies of Barnard College, in July 2001 she joined Harvard University as Professor of History and of Women's Studies. Under her tenure as chair, the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies changed its name to the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Najmabadi's most recent researches have been concerned with the study of the ways in which concepts and practices of sex and sexuality have transformed in Iran, from the late-nineteenth-century to the present-day Iran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afsaneh_Najmabadi
Read more about her in Persian:
http://www.tarikhirani.ir/fa/news/All/bodyView/3435/index.html
3. Lucy Delap
Life Story & Works: Lucy Delap works on modern British history, with a particular focus on gender, feminism and masculinities. She was educated in London, Swaziland and Cambridge, and taught at the University of Cambridge until moving to King’s College London in 2013. Previous research has centred on the Anglo-American components of feminist political thought, anti-feminism, gender in the maritime world (including a history of ‘women and children first’ in shipwrecks), feminism and gender in imperial contexts (with a specific interest in colonial Burma). Her monograph The Feminist Avant-Garde: Transatlantic Encounters of the Early Twentieth Century (CUP, 2007) won the 2008 Women’s History Network prize. She published a study of domestic service in twentieth century Britain, Knowing Their Place
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/icbh/people/delap/index.aspx
When Lucy Delap was asked about her view(s) on the most important history book, she responded that, "As for the most important history book, I would hesitate to name a single work, but would prefer to nominate a journal, History Workshop, for its contribution to the creation and ongoing development of many fields, but particularly of social history, women’s and gender history and its engagement with public history. History Workshop has provided a model of intellectual diversity, freshness and political engagement and continues to do so today".
http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/11/historians-historians
4. Yuval Harari
Life Story & Works: Yuval Noah Harari (born 24 February 1976) originally specialized in medieval history and military history, completing his Ph.D at the University of Oxford (Jesus College) in 2002. He now specializes in World History and macro-historical processes. His research focuses on macro-historical questions such as: What is the relation between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? His most recent book is entitled Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. The book surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of Homo sapiens in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the 21st century. Harari twice won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality, in 2009 and 2012. In 2011 he won the Society for Military History’s Moncado Award for outstanding articles in military history. In 2012 he was elected to the Young Israeli Academy of Sciences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuval_Harari
Some of his Remarks: 1. "We have advanced from canoes to galleys to steamships to space shuttles. We are more powerful than ever before but with little idea what to do with all that power. We are accountable to no one. We are consequently wreaking havoc on our fellow animals and on the surrounding ecosystem, seeking little more than our own comfort and amusement yet never finding satisfaction". (
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2015/01/12/sapiens) 2. "It is often argued that science and religion are enemies, because both seek the truth, yet each finds a different truth. The fact is that science and religion are allies. Science is interested above all in power. Religion is interested above all in order. Together, they are a winning team. Science is a very expensive affair, and it has managed to achieve wonders thanks only to the willingness of governments and businesses to channel billions into research and development. Governments and businesses have funded science not out of pure curiosity, but because they believe it can help them gain more power and attain some cherished goals. And who sets these goals? Not science – but religions and ideologies. Our religious and ideological beliefs are the ultimate source of funding for science, and in return, they get to shape the scientific agenda and to determine what to do with the resulting discoveries".
http://www.ynharari.com/science-and-religion/
5. Quentin Skinner
Life Story: Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner (born 26 November 1940, Oldham, Lancashire) is the Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary University of London and an influential intellectual historian. Quentin Skinner was born to Alexander Skinner, and Winifred Rose Margaret. Educated at Bedford School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was elected into a Fellowship there in 1962 upon obtaining a double-starred First in History, but immediately gained a teaching Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he remained until moving to the University of London in 2008. He is now an Honorary Fellow of both Christ's College and Gonville and Caius College. In the middle 1970s he spent four formative years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. It was there that he met Raymond Geuss, later a colleague at Cambridge. Together with John Dunn and J. G. A. Pocock, Skinner has been said to have founded the "Cambridge School" of the history of political thought. In 1978 he was appointed to the chair of Political Science at the University of Cambridge, and in 1996 he was appointed Regius Professor of History. He was pro-vice-chancellor of Cambridge in 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Skinner
Works: According to her personal Website, Quentin Skinner has broad interests in modern intellectual history, and has also published on a number of philosophical themes, including the nature of interpretation and historical explanation, and on several issues in contemporary political theory, including the concept of political liberty and the character of the State.
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/4565-professor-quentin-skinner
Most Important Historian: When Lucy Delap was asked to name the most important historian, she responded that, "I would suggest Quentin Skinner as the most important historian, someone who has transformed his field, methodologically and substantively, and had an enormous impact in publishing and supporting more junior scholars. He is an enormously generous and charismatic teacher who has contributed to all levels of the academy".
http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/11/historians-historians
Epilogues
1. Occultism is a science, which may be translated into Persian as "Elm-e Ghaib va Falsafeh-e Romooz va Assraar".
2. Many Iranians such as Abul Fazl Bayhaghi (in his History Book of Tarikh-e Bayhaghi), Saadi Shirazi (in his Poems), and Ali Akbar Dehkhoda (in his Dictionary) have referred to the science of Occultism in Persian.
3. Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi can be also listed as a Famous Iranian Woman. Her biography will be appeared in this author's series of "Famous Iranian Women'" in near future.
4. May we remember this epigram from the British historian Philip Guedalla who once said, History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other!
Manouchehr Saadat Noury, PhD
