Michael Burleigh (born 3 April 1955) is an English author and historian whose primary focus is on

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and related subjects. He has also been active in bringing history to television.

Early life

Michael Burleigh was born on 3 April 1955. He was awarded a first class honours degree in medieval and modern history from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1977, winning the Pollard, Dolley and Sir William Mayer Prizes.

Career

After a PhD in medieval history from

Bedford College, London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advancement of women in highe ...

in 1982, he held posts at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and then at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

, where he was a distinguished research professor in modern history. He has also been Professor of History at

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

in Virginia, and Kratter Visiting Professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. In 2002 he gave the three Cardinal Basil Hume Memorial Lectures at

Heythrop College Heythrop College, University of London, was a constituent college of the University of London between 1971 and 2018, last located in Kensington Square, London. It comprised the university's specialist faculties of philosophy and theology with soc ...

, University of London. Burleigh is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the

Institut für Zeitgeschichte The Institute of Contemporary History (''Institut für Zeitgeschichte'') in Munich was conceived in 1947 under the name ''Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit'' ("German Institute of the History of the National Socia ...

in Munich and a Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

. He founded the journal ''Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions'' and is on the editorial boards of ''Totalitarismus und Demokratie'' and ''Ethnic and Racial Studies''. Books of his have been translated into Czech, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish and Spanish. He has also been active in bringing history to television audiences. In 1991 he won the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Award for Archival Achievement for the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

/Domino Films documentary ''Selling Murder: The Killing Films of the Third Reich''. In 1993 he gained a New York Film and Television Festival Award Bronze Medal for ''Heil Herbie: The Story of the Volkswagen Beetle'' (

/Domino Films). Burleigh was on the advisory board of, and contributed regularly to, the magazine '' Standpoint,'' the last issue of which was published in 2021. He won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction in 2001 for ''The Third Reich: A New History'' and the Nonino International Master of His Time Prize in 2012. David Cesarani praised the book's masterful synthesis in '' Literary Review'', noting how Burleigh grafts a thorough command of relevant memoirs onto quantitative data and theories of totalitarianism, providing "one arresting anecdote after another to personalise the bigger argument." His ''Small Wars, Far Away Places: The Genesis of the Modern World 1945–65'' was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2013. He writes for three English dailies: ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' and the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''.

Personal life

Burleigh has been married since 1991 to Linden Burleigh. They live in South East London.

Selected works

*''Selling Murder: The Killing Films of the Third Reich''. London: Domino Films *''Prussian Society and the German Order''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1984 *''Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich''. Cambridge University Press, 1988 *''The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945'' – with Wolfgang Wippermann. Cambridge University Press, 1991 *''Death and Deliverance: Euthanasia in Germany 1900–1945''. Cambridge University Press, 1994 *''Ethics and Extermination: Reflections on Nazi Genocide''. Cambridge University Press, 1997 *''Confronting the Nazi Past''. St Martin's Press, 1995 *''The Third Reich: A New History''. Macmillan, 2000 *''Earthly Powers: Religion and Politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War''. HarperCollins, 2005 *''Sacred Causes: Religion and Politics from the European Dictators to Al Qaeda''. HarperCollins, 2006 *''Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism''. Harper Collins, 2008 *''Moral Combat: A History of World War II''. Harper, 2010 *''Small Wars, Far Away Places: The Genesis of the Modern World 1945–65''. Viking Press, 2013In the United States as ''Small Wars, Faraway Places: Global Insurrection and the Making of the Modern World, 1945–65'' *''Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Assassination''. Picador, 2021.

References

External links