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Robert Gildea

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Professor
Robert Gildea
FBA FRHistS
Born12 September 1952
England, UK
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Historian and academic
TitleProfessor of Modern History
AwardsWolfson History Prize
Academic background
Alma materMerton College, Oxford (B.A.)
St Antony's College, Oxford (D.Phil.)
Doctoral advisorTheodore Zeldin
Academic work
InstitutionsKing's College, London
Merton College, Oxford
Worcester College, Oxford
Main interestsFrench history, French education
Notable worksMarianne in Chains (2002)

Robert Nigel Gildea FBA FRHistS (born 12 September 1952) is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and is the author of several influential books on 20th century French history.

Biography

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Robert Gildea was born on 12 September 1952. He was educated at Dulwich College and at Merton College, Oxford, before attending St Antony's for a D.Phil under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin. His D.Phil. research was in French provincial education. Before being appointed Fellow in Modern History at Merton in 1979, he was a lecturer at King's College, London.

For his 2002 book Marianne in Chains,[1] a study of life in provincial France during the German occupation, Gildea won the prestigious Wolfson History Prize. The book, however, outraged members of the French academic elite[citation needed] through its documented claims that life in France had not been as adversely affected by the Nazi occupation because many French people had co-operated with the German invaders – far more so than previously believed[verification needed].

He was elevated to the position of Professor of Modern History from being Professor of Modern French History in September 2006, becoming a Professorial Fellow of Worcester College.[2] He retired in 2020, being succeeded by Patricia Clavin as Professor of Modern History in 2021.[3][4]

On 10 June 2021 in a BBC Radio 4 interview he declared he was joining other concerned academics in boycotting Oriel College for its refusal to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from the façade of the building, erected using money donated by Rhodes.[5]

Gildea lives in Oxford with his wife, Lucy-Jean, and four children.

Bibliography

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  • Barricades and Borders : Europe 1800–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1987.
  • France since 1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2002.
  • Marianne in chains: in search of the German occupation, 1940–1945. London: Macmillan. 2002.
  • Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799–1914. London: Penguin. 2008.
  • « La génération française de 1968 : points de vue personnel et politique ». L’Amuse-Bouche : La revue française de Yale. The French-Language Journal at Yale University. 1/1 (2010): 39-48.
  • "Napoleon : saint, sinner or both?". Reviews. History Today. 63 (11): 58–59. November 2013. Review essay.
  • Fighters in the shadows : a new history of the French resistance. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2015. ISBN 9780674286108. LCCN 2015018188.
  • Empires of the Mind: The Colonial Past and the Politics of the Present. Oxford University Press (2019).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Marianne in Chains: In Search of the German Occupation 1940–1945. London: Macmillan. 2002. ISBN 978-0-333-78230-9., Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation (Paperback ed.). London: Picador. June 2004. ISBN 0-312-42359-4.
  2. ^ "Profile Professor Robert Gildea". University of Oxford Faculty of History. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Professor Robert Gildea". Merton College, Oxford. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Patricia Clavin appointed as the new Professor of Modern History". Faculty of History, University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  5. ^ BBC Radio 4 'Today' programme, 10 June 2021.
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