David Priestland is a British historian. He teaches modern history at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and is

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of St Edmund Hall.

Career

Priestland's research focuses on the history of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and the development of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

. He is an occasional political and cultural commentator for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

''. In 2013, Priestland published a book ''Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A History of the World in Three Castes'', which focuses mainly on a power struggle between three castes fighting for domination within society. Priestland's main argument is that humanity has shifted from societies oriented towards a warrior-class, through periods of sage dominance into a modern hegemony of merchants, which has culminated in dominance by businesspeople and billionaire entrepreneurs. In the book, Priestland's voice is mostly critical of global capitalism, which has attracted some notable criticism from other academics.

Selected works

* ''Stalinism and the politics of mobilization: ideas, power, and terror in inter-war Russia''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 * ''The Red Flag''. Allen Lane 2009, (The three English-language editions 2009-2010 each have different subtitles: How Communism Changed The World; Communism and the Making of the Modern World; A History of Communism) ** ''World History of Communism. From the French Revolution to today.'' Translated by Klaus-Dieter Schmidt. Siedler, Munich 2009, ** ''World History of Communism''.

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, german: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, ...

, Bonn . ** Russian edition: '' Красный флаг ''. история коммунизма, Krasnyi flag: Istorija kommunizma, ЭКСМО / EKSMO, Moskva 2011 * ''Merchant, soldier, sage: a history of the world in three castes''. New York: Penguin Press, 2013

References

External links

Priestland's profile at St Edmund Hall

Priestland's profile at the University of Oxford Faculty of History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priestland, David Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British historians Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Historians of communism