After attending Magdalen College, Oxford, as an undergraduate, Mandler completed his PhD at Harvard[2] where he wrote a 1984 dissertation entitled Liberalism and Paternalism: The Whig Aristocracy and the Condition of England, 1830–1852.[4]
Mandler was an assistant professor of history at Princeton University from 1984-1991.[citation needed] While there, in 1984 he co-hosted a three-day symposium at Princeton entitled “Socialism in America,” marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of six-time presidential candidate Norman Thomas.[5]
British history since c. 1800, especially cultural, intellectual and social history;
the history of the humanities and social sciences in Britain and America;
concepts and methods in cultural history;
educational history and policy.
In his review[8] of Mandler's 2002 book History and National Life,[9] historian Blair Worden states that Mandler praises the work of professional historians like Simon Schama, Linda Colley and Niall Ferguson, who address a wide audience, in contrast to most specialists of the discipline, who put their very subject at risk by speaking only between themselves. In Mandler' own words, "there is intrinsic value in keeping the springs of knowledge 'clear and untainted' but there is greater value in ensuring that the supply reaches the consumer in something resembling its original state".[10]
Mandler occasionally makes television and radio appearances.[11]
Mandler's is author or editor of the following books:
Great Philanthropists: Wealth and Charity in the Modern World, 1815-1945 (ed., with David Cesarani) (Vallentine Mitchell, 2017).[12]
Return from the Natives: How Margaret Mead won the Second World War and lost the Cold War (Yale University Press, 2013).[13]
From Plunder to Preservation: Britain and the Heritage of Empire, c.1800-1940 (ed., with Astrid Swenson) (British Academy, 2013).[14]
The English National Character: The History of an Idea from Edmund Burke to Tony Blair (Yale University Press, 2006).[15] Review in The Guardian.[16] Review in The New York Sun.[17]
Liberty and Authority in Victorian Britain (ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2006)[18]
History and National Life (Profile Books, 2002).[9] Review in Reviews in History (Institute of Historical Research).[19]
The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home (Yale University Press, 1997).[20]
After the Victorians: Private Conscience and Public Duty in Modern Britain: Essays in memory of John Clive (ed., with Susan Pedersen) (Routledge, 1994).[21]
The Uses of Charity: The Poor on Relief in the 19th-Century Metropolis (ed.) (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990).[22]
Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform: Whigs and Liberals, 1830-1852 (Clarendon Press, 1990).[23]
^See, for instance, Arts & Ideas. 21 November 2018. BBC. Radio 3.
^Mandler, Peter; Cesarani, David, eds. (2017). Great Philanthropists: Wealth and Charity in the Modern World, 1815-1945. Vallentine Mitchell. ISBN978-1-910383-19-3.
