Crang, Jeremy A.

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Crang, Jeremy A.

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: Earned degrees from the University of Stirling, Oxford University, and the University of Edinburgh; postgraduate certificate in education.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of History and Classics, University of Edinburgh, 24 Buccleuch Pl., Edinburgh EH8 9JY, Scotland. E-mail—J.A.Crang@ed.ac.uk.

CAREER:

University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, lecturer, 1993-2003, senior lecturer in history, 2003—. Assistant director, Centre for Second World War Studies; member, City of Edinburgh Universities' Joint Military Education Committee; registered practitioner, Higher Education Academy.

MEMBER:

Royal Society of Arts (fellow), Royal Historical Society (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Arts and Humanities Research Council research grant, 2006; Churchill College, Cambridge, by-fellow, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Paul Addison) The Burning Blue: A New History of the Battle of Britain, introduction by Brian Bond, Pimlico (London, England), 2000.

The British Army and the People's War, 1939-1945, Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor, with Paul Addison) Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden 1945, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, Illinois), 2006.

Contributor to books, including The British Army, Manpower and Society: Towards 2000, edited by Hew Strachan, Frank Cass, 2000; and The Battle of France and Flanders 1940: Sixty Years On, edited by Brian Bond and Michael Taylor, Cooper, 2001. Contributor to journals, including Journal of Ecclesiastical History and War & Society. Coeditor of series "Societies at War 1939-1945," Edinburgh University Press; book review editor, History, 1995-2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

British historian Jeremy A. Crang specializes in World War II military history. His first book, The Burning Blue: A New History of the Battle of Britain, which he coedited, was the result of his experiences as assistant director of the Centre for Second World War Studies. The work collects papers from a conference held by the center and covers a wide range of issues directly or tangentially connected with Germany's attacks on England. Noting that some of the contributed papers are stronger than others, Philip Sabin attested in the English Historical Review: "A key strength of this book is indeed its completeness in covering almost every conceivable angle on the Battle, though with some irrelevance and at the expense of detail in each individual area."

The British Army and the People's War, 1939-1945 is Crang's analysis of how World War II changed the social structure of the British military. The historian comments that World War I, out of necessity, briefly altered the unique social organization of the military, but when the war was over, "it reverted to what it had been before 1914, a conservative social institution which only dimly reflected many of the modernizing influences within British society," explained David French in the English Historical Review. There had been a very distinct class structure in the British army for generations, but World War II, because there was such a tremendous need for troops and soldiers, forced a change in how officers were selected. Moreover, the lower ranks were given better treatment in such areas as education and welfare. French lamented that Crang stops his book at 1945 before showing how the military continued to evolve after the war. He noted, however, "Within his self-imposed limitations Dr. Crang has done an excellent job.… His book will become an indispensable starting point" for all those interested in the subject.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

English Historical Review, September, 2001, Philip Sabin, review of The Burning Blue: A New History of the Battle of Britain, p. 1011, and David French, review of The British Army and the People's War, 1939-1945, p. 1012.