Richard Bessel is

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of twentieth century history at the

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and a member of the

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s of ''

German History The concept of Germany as a distinct region in Central Europe can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as ''Germania'', thus distinguishing it from Gaul. The victory of the Cherusci, Germanic tribes ...

'' and ''

History Today ''History Today'' is a history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and publishes articles of tradit ...

''. He is a specialist in the social and political history of modern Germany, the aftermath of the two world wars and the history of policing.Richard Bessel.
University of York. Retrieved 17 June 2015. Bessel earned his BA at

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

and his

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at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He is a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

. He is also a fellow of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies.

Reviews

Bessel's ''Germany 1945: From War to Peace'' (2009), dealing with the transition from German defeat at the end of the Second World War to peace, was positively reviewed by Jeffry Diefendorf in

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with the reviewer noting its relevance to modern debates about failed states and nation building. Brian Ladd, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', noted Bessel's "sober" treatment of the topic and his preference for understatement over pathos. In ''Violence - A Modern Obsession'' (2015), Bessel gave a history of violence in the twentieth century that ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s reviewer saw as a warning. Ian Bell, in ''The Herald'', noted the denseness of the material and the hellishness of the twentieth century outlined by Bessel, but also that the work was thoughtful rather than being a polemic against violence.Richard Bessel: Violence - A Modern Obsession (Simon & Schuster).
Ian Bell, ''The Herald'', 2 May 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

Selected publications

* ''Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism. The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany 1925–1934''. New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 1984. * ''Life in the Third Reich''. Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1987. * ''Germany after the First World War''. Oxford:

, 1993; paperback edition 1995. * ''Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Comparisons and contrasts''. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1996. * ''Nazism and War''. New York: Random House, 2004. * ''Germany 1945: From War to Peace''.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

and

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, 2009. * ''Violence: A Modern Obsession''. Simon & Schuster, 2015.

References

External links

* http://www.historytoday.com/author/richard-bessel Academics of the Open University Historians of the University of York Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford American emigrants to England Antioch College alumni Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Historians of Germany History Today people 1948 births {{UK-historian-stub