Emsley, Clive 1944-

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Emsley, Clive 1944-

PERSONAL:

Born August 4, 1944.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, Open University, Faculty of Arts, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, England. E-mail—C.Emsley@open.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Writer, editor, historian, and educator. Open University, Milton Keynes, England, professor of history, 1970—, currently codirector, International Center for Comparative Criminological Research. Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, visiting research fellow, 2004. Visiting professor at University of Paris VII, University of Calgary, Griffith University, Australia, and University of Christchurch, New Zealand.

MEMBER:

International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice (former president).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Heritage Lottery Fund Grant, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(With Gary Werskey) War in Our Own Day, Open University Press (Milton Keynes, England), 1973.

(With Ursula Semin) Introduction to the Study of Revolutions and Some Interpretations of 1848, Open University Press (Milton Keynes, England), 1976.

(Author of introduction) North Riding Naval Recruits: The Quota Acts & the Quota Men, 1795-1797, transcribed and edited by A M. Hill and M.Y. Ashcroft, North Yorkshire County Council (Northallerton, England), 1978.

British Society and the French Wars, 1793-1815, Rowman & Littlefield (Totowa, NJ), 1979.

Policing and Its Context, 1750-1870, Schocken Books (New York, NY), 1984.

Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, Longman (New York, NY), 1987, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson (New York, NY), 2005.

World War II and Its Consequences, Open University Press/Open University (Bristol, PA), 1990.

The English Police: A Political and Social History, Harvester Wheatsheaf (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England), 1991, 2nd edition, Longman (New York, NY), 1996.

The Longman Companion to Napoleonic Europe, Longman (New York, NY), 1993.

Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, Oxford University Press (New York), 1999.

Britain and the French Revolution, Longman (New York, NY), 2000.

Napoleon, Pearson (London, England), 2003.

Hard Men: The English and Violence since 1750, Hambledon & London (New York, NY), 2005.

Crime, Police, and Penal Policy: European Experiences, 1750-1940, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2007.

EDITOR

(Editor) Conflict and Stability in Europe, Croom Helm (London, England), 1979.

(Editor) Essays in Comparative History: Economy, Politics, and Society in Britain and America, 1850-1920, Open University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1984.

(Editor, with James Walvin) Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860: Essays Presented to Gwyn A. Williams, Croom Helm (Dover, NH), 1985.

(Editor, with Arthur Marwick and Wendy Simpson) War, Peace, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Europe, Open University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1989.

(Editor, with Barbara Weinberger) Policing Western Europe: Politics, Professionalism, and Public Order, 1850-1940, Greenwood Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor, with Philippe Robert) Geschichte Und Soziologie Des Verbrechens (title means "History and Sociology of Crime"), Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft (Pfaffenweiler, Germany), 1991.

(Editor, with Louis A. Knafla) Crime History and Histories of Crime: Studies in the Historiography of Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern History, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1996.

(Editor, with Richard Bessel) Patterns of Provocation: Police and Public Disorder, Berghahn Books (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor, with Arthur Marwick and Wendy Simpson) Total War and Historical Change: Europe, 1914-1955, Open University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor, with Barry Godfrey and Graeme Dunstall) Comparative Histories of Crime, Willan (Cullompton, England), 2003.

(Editor, with Haia Shpayer-Makov) Police Detectives in History, 1750-1950, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2006.

Crime, History, and Societies, coeditor.

SIDELIGHTS:

Clive Emsley is a writer, educator, and historian at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England. In an autobiography posted on the Open University Web site, Emsley reported: "I was among the first appointments to the Open University History Department, arriving straight from doing research at Cambridge in 1970." He has been a visiting professor in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and is active in course development at the Open University.

Emsley is a scholar of the history of crime and policing in Western Europe, England, France, and elsewhere, and is a prolific author of books and articles on this and related subjects. Writing on the Open University Web site, Emsley notes that he has spent some twenty-five years researching topics in crime and police history. He describes himself as a "prime mover" in establishing the Open University as a major center for "one of the largest archives of material relating to policing in the United Kingdom." In addition to this work, Emsley is a codirector of the Old Bailey project, an online repository of Old Bailey and English Criminal Court proceedings covering almost 250 years, from 1674 to 1913.

In Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, Emsley covers the history of crime in England during a tumultuous 150-year span of growth, urbanization, and industrialization. He examines crime and criminal justice as they existed in the Victorian and Georgian eras, focusing particularly on police work, prosecution of criminals, and punishment of the convicted. History Today reviewer Barry Godfrey concluded, "This book is a valuable addition to the canon of historical criminology," and called it an "accessible and comprehensive text for students."

Emsley served as the editor, with Barry Godfrey and Graeme Dunstall, of the volume Comparative Histories of Crime. The book is a "collection of essays that introduces readers to current developments in the social history of crime," noted reviewer Dean Wilson in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology. The collection contains work by historians, criminologists, and sociologists. "Collectively, the essays assembled in this volume present a powerful case for the validity and utility of comparative historical research," Wilson stated. The contributions cover topics such as the decline of interpersonal violence; changes in patterns of violence over the years; moral panics as represented in violent street crime; juvenile delinquency; the use of shaming as an effective punishment and deterrent; and military law and punishments. The book also contains a "theoretical consideration of the methodologies, challenges, pitfalls and potentials of comparative research," Wilson reported. Wilson concluded that Comparative Histories of Crime "demonstrates the continuing importance and rewards of comparative research not only across space but also across time."

The English Police: A Political and Social History contains a comprehensive and wide-ranging history of the British police, from prehistory to the present day. "This broad and comprehensive coverage of the history of the English police that includes its prehistory and takes us up to the present is set to become the new standard text" on the subject, commented Barbara Weinberger, writing in the British Journal of Criminology. Emsley covers how the concept of policing arose and developed throughout England, and offers an exploration of the significant issues, criticisms, and contradictions that have emerged in British policing over its lengthy history. Emsley, Weinberger observed, is a "historian whose knowledge of English policing history over the whole of the period is second to none." He discusses the interplay of various sections of the English judicial system that ultimately allowed a full-time police force to develop. He considers important aspects of police accountability. In addition, he assesses the social characteristics and background of police officers themselves, and presents results from a survey he conducted of police recruits from 1840 to 1930. Weinberger concluded that "all those concerned with policing history will long remain indebted to Emsley's book."

Emsley also served as the editor, with Louis A. Knafla, of Crime History and Histories of Crime: Studies in the Historiography of Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern History. The book contains bibliographic essays covering the history of criminal justice in a number of geographical areas and during several time periods. In addition to work on criminal justice in medieval Europe, the book contains essays on the history of crime and criminal justice in various parts of Europe, Scandinavia, the United States, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. "All of the pieces have been produced by scholars who are themselves distinguished contributors to their fields, each of whom is obliged to attempt a great deal within a short space," observed Simon Devereaux in a Canadian Journal of History review. The book "serves its principal purpose well," and "will be warmly welcomed by those seeking an introduction to criminal justice history," Devereaux concluded.

In Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, Emsley "explores the origins and development of policing the countryside with paramilitary, or just plain military, gendarmes in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the spread of gendarmerie-style policing across nineteenth-century Europe," commented English Historical Review contributor Roland Axtmann. Emsley carefully considers the various aspects of the history of gendarmerie-style police forces, such as how such groups were formed, how they were organized, the social composition of the gendarmerie groups, their position within the greater environment of the state, and how they accomplished their policing missions. In tandem, he looks at how gendarmeries functioned within social and political contexts of war, industrialization, urbanization, revolution, and nationalism. In the end, Axtmann noted, "it was the effectiveness and efficiency of gendarmerie-style policing" that allowed it to spread across Europe. Historian reviewer Terry Strieter called Emsley's work "the best book in English on the gendarmes of the long nineteenth century, 1789-1914." Joachim Whaley, writing in the Journal of European Studies, concluded: "Emsley's book is a significant contribution to the study of the development of the state and the rule of law in nineteenth-century Europe."

Hard Men: The English and Violence since 1750 contains Emsley's detailed study of "the changing pattern of interpersonal violence in England since 1750," reported John Kendle in History: Review of New Books. "He seeks to explore the perception—held by historians and contemporaries alike—that English society was becoming less violent up to around the mid-twentieth century and, then subsequently became more violent," noted Matthew McCormack in the Canadian Journal of History. Emsley finds that this perception is not necessarily true, and that a perceived "golden age" of nonviolence in England simply did not exist. In total, he has "produced a history of crime and violence that questions how cultural ideals about masculine self-restraint, control, chivalry, and notions of fairness informed legal decisions and operated, more generally, as guiding principles in British courts of law," commented Paul R. Deslandes in a Victorian Studies critique. Journal of Social History contributor J. Carter Wood called the book an "effective, lively and accessible work, which will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of violence."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Bar Foundation Research Journal, spring, 1986, Wilbur R. Miller, review of Policing and Its Context, 1750-1870, p. 339.

American Historical Review, December, 1986, review of Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860: Essays Presented to Gwyn A. Williams, p. 1309; February, 2001, Benjamin F. Martin, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 246.

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, August, 2004, Dean Wilson, review of Comparative Histories of Crime, p. 296.

British Journal of Criminology, winter, 1993, Barbara Weinberger, review of The English Police: A Political and Social History, p. 133.

Canadian Journal of History, April, 1998, Simon Devereaux, review of Crime History and Histories of Crime: Studies in the Historiography of Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern History, p. 145; autumn, 2006, Matthew McCormack, review of Hard Men: The English and Violence since 1750, p. 389.

Choice, April, 1992, M.J. Moore, review of The English Police, p. 1281; June, 2000, S. Bailey, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 1874.

Contemporary Sociology, May, 1993, review of The English Police, p. 319.

Economic History Review, November, 1991, Michael Biddiss, review of War, Peace, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Europe, p. 751.

English Historical Review, October, 1988, Norman McCord, review of Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860, p. 1060; April, 1990, David Jones, review of Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, p. 499; November, 2000, Roland Axtmann, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 1342; December, 2005, Geoffrey Ellis, review of Napoleon, p. 1453; December, 2007, Joyce Lee Malcolm, review of Hard Men, p. 1430.

European History Quarterly, October, 2001, Lucy Riall, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 622.

Historian, winter, 1993, Marc Baer, review of The English Police, p. 341; summer, 2001, Terry W. Strieter, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 866.

History and Theory, February, 1997, review of Crime History and Histories of Crime, p. 108.

History Review, September, 2004, Michael Broers, review of Napoleon, p. 54.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 2000, Jeffrey L. Short, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 123; winter, 2006, John Kendle, review of Hard Men, p. 47.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, February, 1987, John Belchem, review of Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860, p. 135; February, 1995, Irene Collins, review of The Longman Companion to Napoleonic Europe, p. 143.

History Today, February, 1984, J.A. Sharpe, review of Policing and Its Context, 1750-1870, p. 50; June, 1986, Jonathan Clark, review of Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860, p. 61; October, 1989, review of War, Peace, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Europe, p. 58; October, 1991, review of The English Police, p. 53; June, 1997, Barry Godfrey, review of Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, p. 58.

International Journal of the Sociology of Law, August, 1985, Jennifer Davis, review of Policing and Its Context, 1750-1870, p. 293.

International Review of Social History, December, 2006, "Social Control in Europe, 1500-1800," p. 525.

Journal of British Studies, July, 2006, Marjorie Levine-Clark, review of Hard Men, p. 669.

Journal of European Studies, December, 2000, Joachim Whaley, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 417.

Journal of Modern History, September, 1987, J.S. Cockburn, review of Policing and Its Context, 1750-1870, p. 562; September, 2001, Stanley H. Palmer, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 657.

Journal of Social History, spring, 2007, J. Carter Wood, review of Hard Men, p. 766.

Law and History Review, spring, 1993, Wilbur R. Miller, review of The English Police, p. 190.

New Statesman, January 31, 1986, Alun Howkins, review of Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860, p. 31.

Reference & Research Book News, April, 1992, review of The English Police, p. 22; June, 1996, review of Crime History and Histories of Crime, p. 42; May, 2005, review of Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, p. 171; May, 2006, review of Hard Men; November, 2006, review of Police Detectives in History, 1750-1950.

Times Educational Supplement, April 29, 1988, review of Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, p. 126.

Times Literary Supplement, September 3, 1993, review of The Longman Companion to Napoleonic Europe, p. 28; March 24, 2000, Eugen Weber, review of Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe, p. 29; September 23, 2005, Martin Pugh, review of Hard Men, p. 4.

Victorian Studies, winter, 2007, Paul R. Deslandes, review of Hard Men, p. 333.