I am the Edward Orsborn Professor of United States Politics & Political History at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Rothermere American Institute. I’m also a professorial fellow of University College, Oxford. Between 2002 and 2019 I taught at University College London (UCL) and before that at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Queen Mary, University of London. I got my BA from Oxford, MA from Sheffield and PhD from Cambridge. In 2009, I was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. I regularly write and present documentaries — mainly on BBC Radio 4 — and I write for various newspapers, magazines and websites including The Sunday Times and UnHerd.
My specialism is the history of the United States in the nineteenth century. My latest book is a study of how the battle of Gettysburg has been remembered, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2024. My previous book, The Stormy Present: Conservatism and the Problem of Slavery in Northern Politics, 1846-1865 (University of North Carolina Press, 2017) Previous books include No Party Now: Politics in the Civil War North (Oxford University Press, 2006) and The American Civil War (Palgrave, 2007), a short biography of Abraham Lincoln (History Press, 2014), and of the Connell Guide to the American Civil War (2017). I also contributed to an AHRC-funded Images of America project and to a book on the global image of Abraham Lincoln. Details of my books are here.
I take a close interest in education policy in the UK and especially university admissions and school history teaching.Between 2011 and 2016 I served as the Honorary Secretary of the Royal Historical Society, which represents scholarly historians in the UK. I am currently a board member of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, which awards scholarships to US students wishing to study in the UK. I am also the chair of the Higher Education Committee, and a Trustee, of the Historical Association.
I was born in Durham and I live in Oxford with my wife Caroline and three lovely daughters: Rosie, Eleanor and Lucy.
I can be contacted by email adam.smith@rai.ox.ac.uk
Adam Smith: Historian 