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Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson
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Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson (April 18, 1964—), born in Glasgow in Scotland, is a well-known and widely-published British historian of modern imperialism. Ferguson is incumbent Professor of History at Harvard University and is currently Herzog Professor in Financial History at Stern School of Business, New York University, and Visiting Professor of History and Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College, University of Oxford. He is an specialist in financial and economic history. Ferguson has earned a reputation as a revisionist who challenges many of the long-standing orthodoxies in history. Ferguson's wide profile in journalism and his revisionist reputation has lead him to be compared to A. J. P. Taylor, throught the comparision is not entirely apt as in regards to beliefs and methods, there is very wide gulf between Ferguson and Taylor.

In his 2001 book The Cash Nexus , Dr. Ferguson argued that the popular saying that money makes the world around is wrong; instead he presented an case for human actions in history more motivated by far then just economic concerns. In the same book, Ferguson made an case against those historians such as Paul Kennedy, who argued that the United States was an politically and economically over-stretched power on the verge of collapse. If anything, Ferguson argued that United States was not sufficiently involved in the affairs of the world. In his books Colossus and Empire, Ferguson presented the British Empire as an essentially benevolent institution and expressed regret that the modern U.S could not be like the 19th century British Empire.

He is best known for his 1998 revisionist book The Pity of War, which is an analytic account of what Dr. Ferguson considered to be the ten great myths of the Great War. The book generated much controversy, particulary Dr. Ferguson's suggestion that it would have been for the best for everyone if Britain had stayed out of the First World War in 1914 and allowed Germany to win the war. Furthermore, Ferguson expressed disagreement with the Sonderweg interpration of German history championed by such German historians such as Fritz Fischer, Hans-Ulrich Wehler and Wolfgang Mommsen who argued that the German Empire deliberately started an aggressive war in 1914. Instead, Ferguson maintained that Germany waged a preventive war in 1914, a war largely forced on the Germans by reckless and irresponsible British diplomacy. Also controversial was Dr. Ferguson's use of counter-factual history in his book. He has supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in general, but has criticized many of the details of the Iraq war.

Academic Career

Previous academic positions Ferguson has held are:

1989-1990 Research Fellow, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge
1990-1992 Official Fellow and Lecturer, Peterhouse, University of Cambridge
1992-2000 Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Jesus College, University of Oxford
2000-2002 Professor of Political and Financial History, University of Oxford

Bibliography

  • Colossus: the Rise and Fall of the American Empire, Allen Lane, 2004. ISBN 0713997702
  • Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, Allen Lane, 2003. ISBN 0713996153
  • Twilight of the Crowns, Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0465023185
  • The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700-2000, London: Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 2001. ISBN 0713994657
  • Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, Basic Books, 1999. ISBN 0465023223
  • The Pity of War: Explaining World War I, London: Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 1998. ISBN 0140275231. Basic Books, 1999, ISBN 046505711X
  • The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1999, Viking Books, 1999. ISBN 0670887943
  • The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998, ISBN 0297815393
  • The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848, Viking Books, 1998. ISBN 0670857688
  • Paper and Iron : Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation, 1897-1927, Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0521470161

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Last updated: 05-07-2005 17:32:15
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04