Ashley Jackson (historian)

Early life and education

Ashley Jackson was born in Bristol, England on 24 June 1971. He attended the University of Greenwich, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992, and Oxford University, from which he received a Master of Studies degree in 1993 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1996. His dissertation was about the history of World War II and British imperial Botswana (then formally known as the Bechuanaland Protectorate).

Career

Academia

Jackson is Professor of Imperial and Military History at King's College London. He specializes in studying the global military strategy of the British Empire. His first book, Botswana, 1939–1945: An African Country at War, published in 1999, was adapted from his dissertation; it covers the recruitment and demobilization of the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps as well as the wartime Botswanan home front experience. The Times Literary Supplement called it a "fascinating study". His second book, published in 2001 and considered thematically similar to his first by the Journal of Southern African Studies, was War and Empire in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean and analyzed British Mauritius during World War II. According to African Affairs, Botswana, 1939–1945 and War and Empire were "two useful, excellent books". His third book was published in 2006 as The British Empire and the Second World War, taking on "the whole of the British Empire in the war years" in what African Affairs called "an important book" and "an accurate account of the contributions made by dominions and colonies". In 2016, Jackson told The Independent that he believed the British public needed "better education" in a "warts and all understanding" of British imperial history that acknowledged the exploitative dimensions of the British Empire.

Television

Jackson appears as himself in Cunk on Earth, a 2022 mockumentary about human history created by the BBC.

Selective bibliography

Selective filmography

Notes

References

References

1. (2002). "Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors". [[Gale (publisher).
2. Killingray, David. (October 2000). "Ashley Jackson. ''Botswana 1939–1945: An African Country at War''. (Oxford Historical Monographs.) New York: Clarendon Press Oxford University. 1999. Pp xiii, 281. $72.00". [[The American Historical Review]].
3. (9 April 2018). "Professor Ashley Jackson". [[King's College London]].
4. N. C., Fleming. (May 2015). "''The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction'' by Ashley Jackson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 143pp., £7.99, ISBN 978 0 19 960541 5". [[Political Studies (journal).
5. Potter, Simon J.. (March 2004). "Imperial War in the Indian Ocean". [[Journal of Southern African Studies]].
6. Killingray, David. (July 2009). "''The British Empire and the Second World War'', by Ashley Jackson". [[African Affairs]].
7. Owen, Joshua. (22 February 2016). "British Empire: Students Should Be Taught Colonialism 'Not All Good,' Say Historians". [[The Independent]].
8. Pandya, Hershal. (10 February 2023). "''Cunk on Earth'' Is So Perfectly Stupid".