Richard English | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Ludlow English 1963 (age 61–62) Belfast,Northern Ireland |
| Alma mater | Keble College,Oxford (BA) Keele University (PhD) |
| Notable works | Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2003) Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland (2006) Writing career |
| Subjects | |
Richard Ludlow English[1]CBE FBA MRIA FRSE FRHistS (born 1963) is aNorthern Irishhistorian and political scientist fromNorthern Ireland. He was born inBelfast.
He studied as an undergraduate atKeble College,Oxford, and subsequently atKeele University, where he was awarded aPhD in History. He was first employed by the Politics Department atQueen's University Belfast in 1990 and became a professor in 1999. In 2011, he took up an appointment at theUniversity of St Andrews but five years later returned to Queen's University Belfast as pro-vice chancellor for internationalisation and engagement.[2]
His father, Donald English (1930–1998), was a prominentMethodist preacher.
Most of his research has been centred on theIrish Republican movement and particularly the history of theIrish Republican Army. His first book, based on his doctoral thesis, concerned the history of postIrish Civil War Republican politics and was titledRadicals and the Republic, Socialist Republicanism in the Irish Free State (1994). His next work was a biography of 1920s IRA veteranErnie O'Malley, entitledErnie O'Malley: IRA Intellectual which was published in 1998.
Since then, he has writtenArmed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2003). This book, predominantly a history of the modernProvisional IRA, won the politics book of the year award from the Political Studies Association and was shortlisted for theChristopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. After this, he wrote a broader history ofIrish nationalism,Irish Freedom, The History of Nationalism in Ireland (2006), which won the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize in 2007.[3]
He has also co-edited two volumes:The State: Historical and Political Dimensions (1999, with Charles Townshend); andRethinking British Decline (1999, with Michael Kenny).
He is a frequent media commentator on terrorism and Irish politics and history, including work for the BBC, NPR,The Times Literary Supplement,Newsweek, and theFinancial Times.[4]
In 2009, he published a study of political violence, titledTerrorism: How to Respond.[5]
In 2016, he contributed to the documentary filmBobby Sands: 66 Days. In 2017, he delivered theGifford Lectures onNationalism, Terrorism and Religion at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[6]
In 2015 English was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh.[7]
