Peter Mandler


Peter Mandler, FBA is a British historian and academic specialising in 19th and 20th century British history, particularly cultural history and the history of the social sciences. He is Professor in Modern Cultural History at the University of Cambridge and Bailey fellow in History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Biography

Mandler was born in 1958 in the United States of America. After attending Magdalen College, Oxford, as an undergraduate, Mandler did his PhD at Harvard where he wrote a dissertation entitled Liberalism and Paternalism: The Whig Aristocracy and the Condition of England, 1830-1852.
Mandler started teaching in Britain in 1991 at London Guildhall University, and joined the University of Cambridge faculty in 2001. He was President of the Royal Historical Society from 2012 to 2016, and is currently Chair of the Modern History section of the British Academy.

Research and scholarship

Mandler's main research interests are:
In his review of Mandler's 2002 book History and National Life, historian Blair Worden states that Mandler praises the work of professional historians like Simon Schama, Linda Colley and Niall Ferguson, who address a wide audience, in contrast to most specialists of the discipline, who put their very subject at risk by speaking only between themselves. In Mandler' own words, "there is intrinsic value in keeping the springs of knowledge 'clear and untainted' but there is greater value in ensuring that the supply reaches the consumer in something resembling its original state".
Mandler occasionally makes television and radio appearances.

Works

Mandler's is author or editor of the following books: