Robert Poole (historian)

Robert Poole (born 1957) is a UK-based academic and public historian, currently Guild Research Fellow and Reader in History at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.[1] He gained his PhD from the University of Lancaster in 1986, where he was associated with Prof Harold Perkin's Centre for Social History, organising the 1996 conference of the Social History Society on 'Time and the Construction of the Past'. He has also held positions at the universities of Keele, Edge Hill and Cumbria. He is an Associate Member of ‘The Future in the Stars’ research programme, Friedrich-Meinecke Institut, Freie Universitat, Berlin;[2] and an Associate of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester. [3] In 2000-1 he was Leverhulme Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, and in 2013-2015 visiting Senior Research Fellow to the History Group, University of Hertfordshire.

Earthrise and the space age

Earthrise (2008)

Poole's best-known book is "Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth" (Yale University Press, 2008),[4] 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'.[5] He has lectured on 'Earthrise' and the cultural history of the space age in London, Washington, DC, Lucerne,[6] Paris, Berlin[7] and Copenhagen, broadcast on US public radio,[8][9][10] and in July 2009 wrote the op ed piece for the 'LA Times' on the fortieth anniversary of the Moon landing .[11] Subsequent articles have explored the science fiction writer and techno-prophet Arthur C. Clarke,[12] the 'apeman, spaceman' theme in '2001: a Space Odyssey',[13] and the myth of progress in '2001: a Space Odyssey'.[14] Another recent article, 'What was Whole about the Whole Earth?', provides a missing chapter to 'Earthrise'.[15] In early 2016 he enjoyed a Short-Term Visitor Award at the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, to look at the recently-acquired papers of Arthur C. Clarke.[16]

Poole's principal 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,[17] History,[18] and Labour History Review.[19] He was historical advisor to Manchester City Council on the 2007 memorial plaque to Peterloo,[20] and to the John Rylands Library, Manchester, on the inclusion of the Peterloo Relief Fund Book on the UNESCO 'Memory of the World' register.[21] 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,[22] the main source for the study of British radicalism and protest in this period. He has given numerous public lectures and workshops, including the Manchester Histories Festivals,[23] and has appeared on several television programmes including Elegance and Decadence: the Age of the Regency episode 3 (BBC, 2011), How the North was Built Part 1 (ITV, 2013), The Real Mill (Channel 4, 2014),[24] and the BBC Schools Programme Exploring the Past (2015), in which a school student explored site of Peterloo.[25] He is editor of a special edition of the Manchester Region History Review entitled Return to Peterloo, contributing essays including 'What Don't We Know About Peterloo?'; a full-scale book is in preparation. [26] 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).[27]

Early modern England

In 2011 Poole produced an accessible edition of The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster (Carnegie, 2011), the original 1612 account of the trial of the Lancashire (or Pendle) witches. [28] The introduction gave the definitive account of England's biggest peacetime witch trial, summarised in an essay for the Public Domain Review.[29] He was editor of "The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories" (Manchester University Press 2002), a multidisciplinary book of essays. 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'.[30] He has contributed two articles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: John Collier ('Tim Bobbin') 1708-1786, and William Holder 1616-1698).

References

  1. ↑ JEdwards10@uclan.ac.uk, John. "Staff Profiles | About us |". Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  2. ↑ "Future in the Stars Research Group". The Future in the Stars: European Astroculture and Extraterrestrial Life in the 20th Century. Friedrich-Meinecke Institut, Frei Universitat, Berlin. 2012.
  3. ↑ "Associates of CHSTM". Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. University of Manchester. 2014.
  4. ↑ "Earthrise (paperback edition)". Yale University Press.
  5. ↑ Oliver, Kendrick (2013). To Touch the Face of God: the Sacred, the Profane and the American Space Program, 1957-1975. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1-4214-0788-3.
  6. ↑ 8th Swiss Biennial website
  7. ↑ "Envisioning Limits: Outer Space and the End of Utopia". 2013. Retrieved August 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  8. ↑ 'Living on Earth'
  9. ↑ "Starry-Eyed: a History of the Heavens". Backstory.org. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. August 2013.
  10. ↑ "Pale Blue Dot". US National Public Radio. Feb 2012.
  11. ↑ LA Times Archive 19 July 2009
  12. ↑ Poole, Robert (Sep 2012). "The Challenge of the Spaceship: Arthur C. Clarke and the History of the Future". History and Technology.
  13. ↑ Ljujic, Tatjana; Kramer, Peter; Daniels, Richard (2015). Stanley Kubrick: New Perspectives. London: Black Dog Press. ISBN 978-1-908966-42-1.
  14. ↑ Geppert, Alexander (2015). Post-Apollo: Outer Space and the Limits of Utopia. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming.
  15. ↑ Turchetti, Simone; Roberts, Peder (2014). The Surveillance Imperative. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137438720.
  16. ↑ "Arthur C. Clarke's Personal Papers Arrive at the Museum | AirSpace". blog.nasm.si.edu. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  17. ↑ Poole, Robert (August 2006). "The March to Peterloo: Politics and Festivity in Late Georgian England". Past and Present 192 (192).
  18. ↑ Poole, Robert (April 2006). "By the law or the sword: Peterloo revisited". History (vol. 91 no. 302).
  19. ↑ Poole, Robert (April 2009). "French revolution or peasants' revolt? Petitioners and rebels from the Blanketeers to the Chartists". Labour History Review (74, 1).
  20. ↑ "New plaque tells truth of Peterloo killings". theguardian.com. 27 December 2007.
  21. ↑ John Rylands Library news
  22. ↑ "Home Office Disturbances Papers Project". Centre for Regional and Local History Research. University of Hertfordshire. 2014.
  23. ↑ "Peterloo short film". Manchester Histories Festival. March 2014.
  24. ↑ "The Real Mill with Tony Robinson". Channel 4. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  25. ↑ "The Peterloo Massacre, Exploring the Past: Protest - BBC Two". BBC. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  26. ↑ "Return to Peterloo". Manchester Region History Review. Manchester Centre for Regional History, MMU. 2014.
  27. ↑ "Robert Poole". academia.edu. 2014.
  28. ↑ Poole, Robert (2011). The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster. Lancaster: Carnegie. ISBN 978-1-874181-78-1.
  29. ↑ "The Lancashire Witches 1612-2012". The Public Domain Review. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
  30. ↑ BBC Radio 4 In Our Time website
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