Dominic Sandbrook

Dominic Christopher Sandbrook, (born 2 October 1974) is a British historian, author, columnist and television presenter. He co-hosts '' The Rest is History'' podcast with historian and author Tom Holland.

Early life and academic career

Sandbrook was born on 2 October 1974 in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. He was educated at Malvern College, then an all-boys independent school in Worcestershire. He studied history and French at Balliol College, Oxford. He then studied for a Master of Letters (MLitt) degree in history at the University of St Andrews and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at Jesus College, Cambridge. His doctoral thesis was titled "The political career of Senator Eugene McCarthy" and was completed in 2002.

Previously a lecturer in history at the University of Sheffield, he has been a senior fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University and a member of its history faculty. Sandbrook was a visiting professor at King's College London, and a freelance writer and newspaper columnist. In 2007 he was named one of Waterstone's 25 Authors for the Future. In July 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS).

Writing career

Sandbrook's first book, a biography of the US presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, proved controversial on its publication in the United States in 2004. Writing for H-Net, a forum for scholars in the humanities and social sciences, David Stebenne said it "describes McCarthy's life and work with outstanding grace and clarity", and was "a very fine study of a significant figure that serious students of American postwar history will want to consult." Stebenne and Historian Jennifer Delton both praised Sandbrook's analysis of Eugene McCarthy's formative influences in Catholic and Christian moral and anti-communist political thought - "the author does a great job of tying the early McCarthy to his historical moment". McCarthy himself called the book "almost libellous".

In 2005, Sandbrook published ''Never Had It So Good'', a history of Britain from the Suez Crisis to the Beatles, 1956–63. It received mixed reviews. It was described as a "rich treasure chest of a book" by Anthony Howard in ''The Daily Telegraph'', who wrote of his "respect for the sweep and scope of the author's knowledge". Nick Cohen wrote in ''The Observer'' that it was "a tribute to Sandbrook's literary skill that his scholarship is never oppressive. Alternately delightful and enlightening, he has produced a book which must have been an enormous labour to write but is a treat to read". Richard Gott was more sparing in his praise: "Sandbrook does his best, but he lacks the literary talent to cover such a wide canvas and keep the reader awake.". Historian Arthur Marwick also criticised the book, writing that it worked as an introduction to the period and a "compendium of references", but failed to produce any novel, original research. Marwick wrote that "The book has little structure, no sense of movement through time, and certainly fails to make the author's much-advertised case"

The sequel, ''White Heat'', covering the years 1964–70 and the rise and fall of Harold Wilson's Labour government, was published in August 2006. "Sandbrook's book could hardly be more impressive in its scope", wrote Leo McKinstry in ''The Times''. "He writes with authority and an eye for telling detail." In November 2009, it was named by the ''Telegraph'' as "one of the books that defined the Noughties". James Buchan observed, "For all the charm of Dominic Sandbrook's book, with its minute anatomy of social forms and brilliant parade of charlatans and fools, it is hard not to feel that somehow time has not been well used." Unlike some historians of the 1960s, Sandbrook argues it was marked by conservatism and conformity. His books attempt to debunk what he sees as myths associated with the period, from the sexual revolution to student protest, and he challenges the "cultural revolution" thesis associated with historians like Arthur Marwick. Charles Shaar Murray, writing in ''The Independent'', called Sandbrook "the Hoodie Historian" and imagined him "slouching into shot while throwing whatever passes for gang signs in the history department of the University of Sheffield, and announcing to Arthur Marwick, Jonathon Green et al. that 'You is all mi bitches nuh.'"

Sandbrook continued the history of postwar Britain with ''State of Emergency'' (2010), covering the period 1970–74, and ''Seasons in the Sun'', which took the story up to the election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister in 1979. Many reviewers commended Sandbrook's survey of the Prime Ministership of Ted Heath. However, Poet and literary critic Sean O'Brien criticised ''State of Emergency'' for over-simplification, writing that "Matters were more complex and varied socially than Sandbrook has space or perhaps inclination to suggest. Those of an age to test memory against his account will naturally dispute some of his emphases". O'Brien pointed out Sandbrook's faliure to analyse 1970s subcultures, the impact of Motown and Black british music, and the impact of Marxist ideas in sufficient depth. Historian James Cronin similarly argued that Sandbrook's analyses of politics were better than his analyses of culture, writing that, rather than analysing groups and subcultures, it "does not help that Sandbrook is so ready to judge, so moralistic in his assessments."

A fifth volume, ''Who Dares Wins'', covering the period 1979–1982, was published in October 2019. Historian Ewan Gibbs praised certain aspects of the book, but also had criticisms, including its over-reliance on newspapers of the time: "replicating the hysteria of contemporary reporting, Sandbrook betrays the limitations of his sources". Anthony Quinn, reviewing for ''The Observer'', described it as a "long, painstaking and pretty enjoyable haul through Britain in the first three years of the Thatcher government ... ungratifyingly even-handed in his portrait of hatcher alive to the flaws in her character and sharp in confounding the popular myths." For ''The Sunday Times'', Piers Brendon said it was "a rich mixture of political narrative and social reportage ... scholarly, accessible, well written, witty and incisive.".

In 2011, before he had finished his book series about Britain, Sandbrook published ''Mad as Hell'' about American populism in the 1970s, discussing cultural influences such as disco, the Ford and Carter presidencies, Bruce Springsteen, and the Dallas Cowboys. In ''The Wall Street Journal'', Michael C. Moynihan identified several sentence fragments that had been closely paraphrased from sources which he considered plagiarism. Moynihan later said he was surprised Sandbrook had not suffered serious career repercussions. Sandbrook rejected the allegations and maintained that he "footnoted his sources, and if popular history books sometimes sound familiar that is because there are only so many ways to say things."

Sandbrook has written articles and reviews for the ''Daily Mail'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''The Sunday Telegraph'', ''The Observer'' and ''The Daily Telegraph'' and has appeared on BBC radio and television. His Radio Four series ''SlapDash Britain'', charting the rise and fall of British governance since the Second World War, was described by the radio critic Miranda Sawyer as "very brilliant".

Television and radio

Podcast

Since 2020, Sandbrook has co-presented a podcast with historian Tom Holland called '' The Rest is History''.

Personal life

Sandbrook lives in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, with his wife Catherine and their son.

He is a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.Das Auto:The Germans, Their Cars, and Us
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Bibliography

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References

External links

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''The Rest is History'' podcast

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandbrook, Dominic
1974 births
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Alumni of the University of St Andrews
BBC television presenters
English podcasters
21st-century English historians
21st-century British historians
English television presenters
Historians of the United Kingdom
Living people
People educated at Malvern College
People from Bridgnorth
Television personalities from Shropshire
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society