Robert Poole (historian)

Robert Poole (born 1957) is a UK-based academic and public historian, currently Guild Research Fellow at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. He gained his PhD from the University of Lancaster in 1986, where he was associated with Prof Harold Perkin's Centre for Social History. He has also held positions at the universities of Keele, Cumbria and Manchester. His work has made an impact in several areas, and he has lectured and broadcast extensively. He is also an Associate Member of ‘The Future in the Stars’ research programme, Friedrich-Meinecke Institut, Freie Universitat, Berlin;^[1] an Associate of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester,^[2] and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow, History Group, University of Hertfordshire.

Earthrise and the space age

Earthrise (2008)

His best-known book is "Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth" (Yale University Press, 2008),^[3] a study of the first views of Earth from space and their impact, which has been identified as one of the key works of the 'new aerospace history'.^[4] He has lectured on 'Earthrise' and the cultural history of the space age in London, Washington, DC, Lucerne,^[5] Paris, Berlin^[6] and Copenhagen, broadcast on US public radio,^[7][8][9] and in July 2009 wrote the op ed piece for the 'LA Times' on the fortieth anniversary of the Moon landing .^[10] Subsequent articles have explored the science ficiton writer and techno-prophet Arthur C. Clarke,^[11] the 'apeman, spaceman' theme in '2001: a Space Odyssey',^[12] and the myth of progress in '2001: a Space Odyssey'.^[13] Another recent article, 'What was Whole about the Whole Earth?', provides a missing chapter to 'Earthrise'.^[14] His interest in this field stems in part from periods as an activist in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Lancaster anti-nuclear energy group Half-Life, as a local government research officer in the Manchester-led nuclear free zone movement, and as a youthful space travel enthusiast.

Peterloo and popular protest

Poole's home field is the history of British popular politics and culture in the industrial revolution period, particularly the 1819 Peterloo massacre in Manchester, on which he has written articles in Past and Present,^[15] History,^[16] and Labour History Review.^[17] He was historical advisor to Manchester City Council on the 2007 memorial plaque to Peterloo,^[18] and to the John Rylands Library, Manchester, on the inclusion of the Peterloo Relief Fund Book on the UNESCO 'Memory of the World' register.^[19] He is engaged on projects, funded by the British Academy and the AHRC, to improve the accessibility of the extensive Home Office Disturbances Papers in the National Archives,^[20] the main source for the study of British radicalism and protest in this period. He has given lectures, workshops and discussion panels at the Manchester Histories Festivals.^[21] and edited a special edition of the Manchester Region History Review entitled Return to Peterloo, contributing essays on 'What Don't We Know About Peterloo?' and 'The Middleton Peterloo banner'.^[22] He is also engaged in a long-running biography of the Lancashire radical Samuel Bamford, on whom he has written several articles (several of them available online).^[23]

Early modern England

He is the editor of "The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories" (Manchester University Press 2002), a multidisciplinary book of essays about England's biggest single witch trial. He has also written "Time's Alteration: Calendar Reform In Early Modern England" (UCL Press/Taylor and Francis, London, 1998), which explains the British calendar reform of 1752 and refutes the myth of riots over the missing eleven days. He explained this on the BBC Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time'.^[24] He has contributed two articles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: (John Collier ('Tim Bobbin') 1708-1786, and William Holder 1616-1698). In 2000-1 he was a Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. His work is distinguished by applying the insights of early modern history to bear on more recent periods, and by an interest in the cultural roots of big ideas of all kinds.

References

External links

• University of Cumbria web site
• Earthrise web site