Academic interests
I am a historian of modern Britain and the British Empire, with a particular focus on intersections between politics, the media, and popular culture. In particular, my work has explored topics such as debates about economic ideas in the interwar British daily press, the role of the quality press in building support for the construction of the post-war welfare state, the press barons and their relationship to popular imperialism , and the historical evolution of debates about free speech and freedom of the press.
Courses taught
Spring 2024:
ENG1505 British Civilization
ENG2501 British Politics
Background
I am originally from Manchester in the UK (City not United, in case you were wondering...) I have previously taught at NTNU, the University of Bristol, LSE, Queen Mary Univesity of London, City University London, and the University of Sheffield. I was awarded my PhD at the University of Sheffield and did my undergraduate and Masters degrees at the University of Liverpool.
Awards
Best Paper Prize, Kipling in the News Conference, the Kipling Society (2021)
Hoover Institution Political Economy Fellowship, Stanford University (2018)
Appointments
Royal Historical Society Early Career Member
Selected publications
‘Freedom of the Press in Britain: From Radical to Reactionary... to Reinvigoration?’, in J. Steel, J. Petley (eds), Routledge Companion to Freedom of Speech & Expression (London: Routledge, 2023)
'The Gutter Press', History Today , 72.7 (2022), p. 101
'Radical and/or Respectable Revisited: Coverage of Radical Politics in The Times and the Manchester Guardian in Inter-war Britain', Historical Research , 95.268 (2022), pp. 240-63
'“That King Over All the Children of Pride, Is the Press—the Press—the Press!”: Rudyard Kipling, the Press Barons, and Visions of Empire', Kipling Journal (April 2022)
'The Young Crusaders', History Today , 72.1 (2022), pp. 12-16
'The Political Economy of the Guardian ', in D. Freedman (ed.), Capitalism's Conscience: 200 Years of the Guardian (London: Pluto Press, 2021)
'Free Speech and the British Press: From Popular Culture to Culture War', in CL Riley (ed.), The Free Speech Wars (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020)
'Professional Identity', in M. Conboy, A. Bingham (eds), The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press: 3: Competition and Disruption, 1900-2017 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
International Organizations and the Media in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, edited by Jonas Brendebach, Martin Herzer, Heidi JS Tworek, H-Net (March 2020)
'The Case for High Wages', History Today , 69.9 (September 2019), pp. 22-24
Historic Newspapers in the Digital Age: 'Search All About It!', by Paul Gooding, Media History , 25.2 (2019), pp. 261-64
Managing the Economy, Managing the People, by Jim Tomlinson, Reviews in History (February 2019), URL: https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/2309
Unemployment and the State in Britain: The Means Test and Protest in 1930s South Wales and North–East England, by Stephanie Ward, Twentieth Century British History , 26.2 (2015), pp. 329-31
Published
Jan. 2, 2024 4:00 PM
- Last modified
Apr. 7, 2024 2:39 PM
