About David Reynolds
Born 1952. David Reynolds is a British historian, television presenter and university teacher.
David Reynolds, (born 17 February 1952) is a British historian. He is Emeritus Professor of International History at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.
Biography Reynolds attended school at Dulwich College on a scholarship, and studied history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (BA, PhD), and Harvard University (Chaote and Warren Fellowships). He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Nebraska and Oklahoma universities, as well as at Nihon University in Tokyo and Sciences Po in Paris.
Reynolds was awarded the Wolfson History Prize, 2005, and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. His research and writing specialise in the two world wars and the Cold War. He served as Chairman of the History Faculty at Cambridge in 2013-15 and retired from University teaching in 2019. In 2022, a number of his former PhD students presented him with a Festschrift published in the journal Diplomacy & Statecraft. He has served on academic advisory boards for the redevelopment of the Imperial War Museum First World War Galleries (2011-14) and Second World War Galleries (since 2016). In 2021, he succeeded Roger Knight as President of Cambridge University Cricket Club.
Documentaries Reynolds has made thirteen documentaries on 20th-century history for the BBC, most recently the three-part BBC Two series Long Shadow, based on his award-winning book about the legacies and memory of 1914β18 and a trilogy of films about the Big Three allies in the Second World War: World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel, World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly and World War Two: 1945 and the Wheelchair President. All these films have been directed by Russell Barnes.
Reynolds was also the writer and presenter of the award-winning ninety-part series America, Empire of Liberty, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Personal life Reynolds is married, with one son and three grandchildren.
Awards and honours 2004 Wolfson History Prize, In Command of History 2005 Fellow of the British Academy 2014 Hessell-Tiltman Prize, The Long Shadow
Books
1981: The Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance, 1937β1941: a Study in Competitive Co-operation (1981) University of North Carolina Press (Awarded the Bernath Prize by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 1982) 1988: An Ocean Apart: the Relationship between Britain and America in the 20th Century β co-author David Dimbleby. Hodder & Stoughton (Linked to BBC/PBS TV series.) 1991: Britannia Overruled: British Policy and World Power in the 20th Century. Longman 1994: Allies at War: the Soviet, American and British Experience 1939β1945 (Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Series on Diplomatic and Economic History). (Co-edited with Warren F. Kimball and A. O. Chubarian). Palgrave Macmillan 1994: The Origins of the Cold War in Europe: International Perspectives (editor). Yale University Press 1995: Rich Relations: the American Occupation of Britain, 1942β1945. Random House (Awarded the US Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award, 1996) 2000: One World Divisible: a Global History since 1945.. Allen Lane 2001: From Munich to Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's America and the Origins of the Second World War. Ivan R. Dee 2004: In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War. Random House (Awarded the Wolfson History Prize, 2004) 2005: Christ's: a Cambridge College Over Five Centuries (editor). Macmillan 2006: From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s. Oxford University Press 2007: Summits: Six Meetings That Shaped the Twentieth Century. Allen Lane 2008: FDR's World: War, Peace, and Legacies. (Co-edited with David B. Woolner and Warren F. Kimball) Palgrave Macmillan 2009: America, Empire of Liberty: A New History. David Reynolds 2013: The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century. Simon & Schuster UK ; W. W. Norton, 2014 US (Awarded the Hessell-Tiltman Prize, 2014) 2016: Transcending the Cold War: Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970β1990. (Co-edited with Kristina Spohr) Oxford University Press 2018: The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt, with Vladimir Pechatnov. Yale University Press (Awarded the Link-Kuehl Prize by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2020) 2019: Island Stories: Britain and its History in the Age of Brexit HarperCollins 2023: Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him HarperCollins
Broadcasting (as writer and presenter) 2004: Churchill's Forgotten Years β BBC Four/BBC Two 2004: The Improbable Mr Attlee β BBC Four 2008: Summits β three-part series: (1) Munich, 1938; (2) Vienna, 1961; (3) Geneva, 1985 β BBC Four 2008: Armistice β BBC2 (Grierson Award: Best Historical Documentary, runner-up) 2008β09: America, Empire of Liberty β BBC Radio 4 (90-part series, accompanying the writer's 2009 book) (Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for the Best New Radio Programme of 2008; Sony Radio Academy Award, Nomination, 2009; Orwell Prize, Shortlist, 2010) 2010: Nixon in the Den β BBC Four 2011: World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel β BBC Four (Grierson Award: Best Historical Documentary, Nomination) 2012: World War Two: 1942 and Hitler's Soft Underbelly β BBC Four 2014: The Long Shadow β three-part series: (1) Remembering and Understanding; (2) Ballots and Bullets; (3) Us and Them β BBC Ywo 2015: World War Two: 1945 and the Wheelchair President β BBC Four 2016: Verdun: The Sacred Wound BBC Radio 4 (two-part series: (1) The Battle; (2) Loss and Legacy) 2017: Balfour's Promised Land BBC Radio 4 β on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration
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Important facts
People in David Reynolds's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
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Frequently asked questions
Who is David Reynolds?
British historian
When was David Reynolds born?
David Reynolds was born on 17 February 1952.
What is David Reynolds's occupation?
David Reynolds is a historian, television presenter and university teacher.
What nationality is David Reynolds?
David Reynolds is British.
Sources & further reading
Β· DBpedia: David Reynolds (historian)
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). David Reynolds. https://biography.guide/david-reynolds-historian/
MLA: "David Reynolds." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/david-reynolds-historian/.
Chicago: "David Reynolds." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/david-reynolds-historian/.
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