Dr Alexander Cook

I am an intellectual and cultural historian whose interests centre upon Britain, France and their colonial worlds from the eighteenth century.  I am interested in politics and political thought, empire, consumption and culture amongst other things. Much of my personal research is focused upon the social history of ideas. I analyse the way in which ideas, discourses, texts and images are taken up, adapted and used by individuals and groups in social situations. I also have a strong interest in historiography and in the uses of history in both the past and the present.

I graduated from the Australian National University with Honours in History and a University Medal, before going on to complete graduate study at the University of Cambridge. During this time I also participated in a range of historical projects with the BBC and worked on exhibitions at the National Library of Australia and the National Museum of Australia. After a brief period as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Queensland, I returned to the ANU where I now teach British and European history, as well as historical theory and method.

From 2013 to 2016, I served as co-Editor of History Australia, the journal of the Australian Historical Association.  From 2010 until 2015 I was Director of Undergraduate Studies in History at the ANU, and I am privileged to work with a talented group of post-graduate students undertaking exciting and innovative projects in a range of fields.

I was a Chief Investigator on the ARC funded Discovery Project, 'Revolutionary Voyages', a colloborative project involving historians from Australia, France and the United States, that explores the history of scientific expeditions and voyages of discovery during the era of the French Revolution.

BA (Hons) ANU, M.Phil University of Cambridge, PhD University of Cambridge

Modern French and British history; history of political thought and political culture;  the Enlightenment; the Age or Revolution; empire;the uses of history; historical theory and method.