The "Halo Effect" refers to the considerable discrepancy between the romanticised legends about historical figures and what the actual evidence reveals. It can be difficult to separate the hype and the overblown hagiography from reality over decades, centuries and millennia. Alexander the Great, King Richard I The Lionheart, Che Guevara, Gandhi and Mother Theresa are highly celebrated but highly flawed figures. Napoleon and Julius Caesar were masters of self promotion about their own political and military achievements. The cult of Joan of Arc as the divinely inspired "saviour of France" struggles for credibility when close scrutiny is applied to the evidence.
- History Collection, https://www.historycollection.com (biographies of a large array of historical figures)
- Peter Pomerantsev, This Is Not Propaganda, Adventures in the War Against reality, Faber and Faber, 2020
- Brad Davies et al, Propagnadopolis, A Century of Propaganda From Around the World, Fuel Design, 2025
- Renee Di Resta, Invisible Rulers, The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality, Hachette, 2024
- Definitions of key terms and concepts including, "halo effect", propaganda, romantic nationalism, hagiography, "leyenda negra" (Black Legend)
- Separation of myth making and hagiography from reality in key case studies from various periods of history including Alexander the Great, Richard I The Lionheart, Joan of Arc, Che Guevara, Gandhi and Mother Theresa
- Factors which have influenced the re assessment of the historical figures and the basis of the revisionist approaches over time e g Columbus and Mary Magdalene
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Discuss the factors which have resulted in wide discrepancies between accounts of historical figures and why the perceptions have changed over time
- Gain an understanding of the extent to which some historical figures have created and maintained their own legends through self promotion and propaganda and how their accounts have been re assessed in recent times.
- Discuss the links in 2025 to concepts of "fake news", "AI fakes", mass media and social media distortions of "truth" and "facts".
