Welcome to my blog …
This will be a blog about my research and writing, and more generally History, books and culture.
I’d like for this blog not just to be an exercise in shameless self-promotion, but also an opportunity to share my love for History and books.
I have been a historian and academic for some ten years (longer, if you count my time as a PhD student). I have taught at several universities – everything from World History to Latin American history, but mostly teaching US history. I’ve also worked at the Australian National Dictionary Centre as a researcher and editor studying historical aspects of Australian English.
I’ve published in both Australian and US history. My research interests include: the history of print culture and reading; the social and cultural history of war; the history of entertainment, entertainers and film; literary biography. I’ve recently completed a manuscript on Australian soldiers’ intellectual and imaginative lives in wartime which focuses on their experiences of education and entertainment. The projects I’m working on at the moment include a biography of Australian writer Henrietta Drake-Brockman, a study of an American Cold War publishing program and a history of entertainers at war.