In addition to my own writing, I am also available to provide full editorial/research services for other authors. I have served as a principal research assistant on the following 6 books.
Will Hutton,
This Time, No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain (London: Apollo, 2024).
Authors' acknowledgement: "My two researchers deserve special thanks. Seth Alexander Thévoz, who joined me from the beginning in late 2022, for his research and excellent guts of key books and texts; he is a considerable historian in his own right, understanding quickly what I was trying to do and finding ways constructively to criticise drafts without deflating me…Importantly, Seth…[was] fully intellectually supportive of what the book aims to do."
Authors' acknowledgement: "Seth Thévoz, author, writer and political scientist associated with Nuffield College, Oxford, brought his scholarship to the book in addition to refining its style and content. His detailed suggestions and changes were always excellent, and many sections of the book have benefitted from his inputs. Seth has been a wonderful asset and great to work with."
Reviews:
"not just the most awaited book on this election, it is also a seminal contribution to election studies in India." Yogendra Yadav, National President of the Swaraj India party, The Print
"A seamless convergence of psephology, history and anthropology, it provides a glimpse of the Indian electoral machine...The years of groundwork and research by market research veteran Sopariwala and Dr Roy that’s gone behind the making of this book is visible almost from the very first page...The Verdict is a purist’s delight because every piece of information provided is backed ably and expectedly by charts, tables and numbers. But it manages to engage a relatively lay reader with equivalent ease because even while conveying complex statistical analysis of big data, the authors have simultaneously managed to create an anecdotal world full of wit and unassuming wisdom...alongside all the data crunching, the authors never fail to infuse the narrative with moments of pure frolic and amusement...This is a perfect handbook for anybody interested in understanding the machinery of the Indian electoral system...The expression ‘recommended reading’ was coined for books such as these." Sayantan Ghosh, National Herald of India
"by focusing on the Indian Voter, the authors provide a much needed corrective to the already-existing literature on election studies, where numbers, more often than not, override subtext...what sets Roy and Sopariwala apart is that the book treads a careful balance between numbers and narration, in a way which makes the former palatable to the lay reader, and yet manages to retain the complexities of a serious psephological treatise...From the very first sentence to the last, Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala's The Verdict is a tour-de-force." Arnav Das Sharma, First Post
"Numbers have stories to tell, but they need a mediator. This book plays that role, and unwraps many a fascinating but hidden story behind the stale and often intimidating numbers and tables on Indian elections over decades. But The Verdict is not only that. Besides number-crunching, it is also anecdotal, and in part, a political history of the country. It is also a How To guide — whether you are an election junkie or dummy, this book might help you prepare for the counting day better...If you ever thought Indian elections are madness, this book explains its methods — through tables, graphs and, of course, prose." Varghese K. George, The Hindu
"Full of charts and tables on everything from anti-incumbency, bellwether constituencies, and landslide state assembly elections, to the falling representation of Muslims, and the success rate of opinion and exit polls, the book is rich in data backed by lucid explanatory text...flashes of humour serve to highlight uncomfortable truths...The Verdict has your attention from its first line - “Democracy lies at the very core of every Indian’s DNA” - to its last: “It is not the VIP, not the individuals who temporarily occupy high office, not the careerists who man the administration, not the eloquent or high profile leaders who dominate the media today and perhaps the history books tomorrow but the anonymous voter from the four corners of our country who is the true guardian of our democratic state.” Recommended reading as India marches into Election 2019." Manjula Narayan, Hindustan Times
Author's acknowledgment: “Seth Thévoz has been a wonderful companion these past three years in exploring the Butler story. Seth’s extraordinary knowledge and understanding of modern history, and his instinctive feel for both politics and the academic world, have been a huge asset to the project, along with his eye for quirky and amusing detail. As a successful historian, or as a journalist, or maybe both, Seth Thévoz is a future name to watch.“
Reviews:
"an absorbing account of the past half-century of British politics and academia, seen through a unique prism...a fascinating read for nerds and non-nerds alike" Ivor Gaber, Times Higher Education Supplement
"fascinating and unexpected insights, not just into our politics, but into the way the British Establishment works" Sue Cameron, TotalPolitics
"I enjoyed reading Michael Crick’s book. It has Crick’s trademark of painstaking research and lots of interviewing, in which he was admirably assisted by Seth Thevoz and Margaret Crick. It is also a light, flowing read rather than a dense scholarly work, appropriately enough for a book about an academic who lived to explain and popularise his learning. Sultan of Swing is an affectionate work about a man whose life has been lived among the great, the good and the clever, and who deserves to be there on all three of those criteria." Lewis Baston, ConservativeHome
I also started as Crick’s research assistant on his following book, the best-selling One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage (London: Simon & Schuster, 2022), but had to bow out from the project at an early stage owing to work commitments around my own book-writing; he still offered a gracious acknowledgement for the minimal work undertaken: “I am grateful also to Seth Thévoz…for [his] research contributions.“
Joe Simpson - The 'Leadership' Trilogy
Joe Simpson, All Systems Go! Leadership in a Complex World (London: Leadership Centre, 2014).
Joe Simpson, The Politics of Leadership: A Study of Political Leadership - Politics and Stories (London: Leadership Centre, 2008).
Author's acknowledgement:
“We would particularly like to acknowledge the contribution of our editor, Seth Thévoz. His questioning and challenge has been critical in the evolution of the arguments we have made.” Making Meaning (2019).
“For turning the argument from outline to book, Seth Thévoz corrected my 'memory' on too many occasions to remember, and he ensured that the book finally emerged with some semblance of sequence.” All Systems Go! (2014).
“Seth Thévoz corrected my 'memory' on too many occasions to remember (and was also the source of many strange facts connected with the Liberal Party)” The Politics of Leadership (2008).