University of Oxford History Faculty

Faculty Postholders

Dr Peter Thompson

M.A., Ph.D.
Sydney L. Mayer University Lecturer in American History

Research Interests

Dr Thompson has published on the social and cultural history of Britain's colonies in North America, 1607-c.1800. His current research interests lie in seventeenth century America and the the anglophone Caribbean

Supervision Interests

Colonial North America and the British colonies of the Caribbean.

Selected Publications:

'No chance in nature: Cannibalism as a solution to maritime famine' in American Bodies: Cultural Histories of the Physique. (Sheffield, 1996) pp. 41-60
Rum punch and revolution: Taverngoing and public life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia. (Philadelphia, 1999) 265pp.
The Cassell Dictionary of Modern American History. (London, 2000) 540pp.
Cassell's Dictionary of American History. (London, 2002) 798pp.
'Judicious Neology: The Imperative of Paternalism in Thomas Jefferson's Linguistic Studies', Early American Studies. Vol 1 (2) (2003) pp. 187-224
'William Bullock's "Strange Adventure": A Plan to Transform Seventeenth-Century Virginia', William and Mary Quarterly. Vol LXI (1) (2004) pp. 107-128
'"The Thief, the Householder, and the Commons: Languages of Class in Seventeenth-Century Virginia," ', William and Mary Quarterly. Vol LXIII (2) (2006) pp. 253-280
'British Group of Early American Historians Annual Conference' in . (Oxford, 2006)
'Seventeenth Century America' in . (Los Angeles, 2006)
'Saved By a Wonder Weed: Jamestown's Early Years' in BBC History. Vol 8 (Bristol, 2007) pp. 20-8
'Inventive Localism in the Seventeenth Century', William and Mary Quarterly. Vol LXIV (3) (2007) pp. 525-548
'Henry Drax's Instructions on the Management of a Barbadian Sugar Plantation', William and Mary Quarterly. Vol LXVI (2009) pp. 565-604
'Paradise Lost: The Founding of Bermuda' in BBC History. Vol 11 (Bristol, 2009) pp. 56-64

Future Publications:

'[Robert Beverley] The History and Present State of Virginia' in .

Research Interests and Activities

History of the United States