Patrick Major
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+44 (0) 118 378 8143
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Professor
Areas of interest
I would be glad to supervise any research student with an interest in the history of modern Germany, the world wars, the Cold War, film history and popular cultural history.
Research centres and groups
I am an associate of the East German Studies Archive at Reading.
Background
I am chair of exams and teach two optional courses on 'Warrior Nation: Prussia and Germany, 1740-1945' and 'Cold War Berlin: Politics and Culture in a Divided City'.
My research interests are primarily the political, social and cultural history of divided Germany in the Cold War. I have recently completed a large project on the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. I am currently undertaking a project on Anglo-American and German film depictions of 'bad Nazis' and 'good Germans', which has been funded by the British Academy.
Publications
- Major, P. (2020) 'Just another Kraut'?: The Wehrmacht Traitor as ‘Good German’ in Hollywood’s Decision before Dawn (1951). In: Purse, L. and Woelfel, U. , (eds.) Mediating War and Identity: Figures of Transgression in 20th- and 21st-century War Representation. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. ISBN: 9781474446266
- Major, P. (2019) Shooting Rommel: the Desert Fox (1951) and Hollywood’s public-private diplomacy. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , 39 (2). pp. 209-232. ISSN: 0143-9685 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2018.1522791
- Scott, C. and Major, P. (2018) The ionospheric response over the UK to major bombing raids during World War II. Annales Geophysicae , 36 (5). pp. 1243-1254. ISSN: 0992-7689 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1243-2018
- Major, P. (2012) Listening behind the Curtain: BBC broadcasting to East Germany and its Cold War echo. Cold War History , 13 (2). pp. 255-275. ISSN: 1743-7962 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2012.746840
- Major, P. (2011) Walled in: ordinary East Germans' responses to 13 August 1961. German Politics and Society , 29 (2). pp. 8-22. ISSN: 1558-5441 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3167/gps.2011.290202
- Major, P. (2010) Unusual censor readings: G.D.R. science fiction and the Ministry of Culture. In: Hochscherf, T. , Laucht, C. , Plowman, A. , (eds.) Divided, but not disconnected: German experiences of the Cold War. Berghan Books , New York and Oxford. pp. 204-219. ISBN: 9781845457518
- Major, P. and Moran, C. , eds. (2009) Spooked: Britain, empire and intelligence since 1945. Cambridge Scholars Publishing , Newcastle. pp 164. ISBN: 9781443813129
- Major, P. (2009) Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the frontiers of power. Oxford University Press , Oxford. pp 336. ISBN: 9780199243280
- Major, P. (2008) Our friend Rommel: the Wehrmacht as "worthy enemy" in postwar British popular culture. German History , 26 (4). pp. 520-35. ISSN: 1477-089X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghn049
- Major, P. (2006) "Smut and trash": Germany's culture wars against pulp fiction. In: Führer, K. and Ross, C. , (eds.) Mass Media, Culture and Society in Twentieth-Century Germany. New Perspectives in German Political Studies Palgrave , Basingstoke. pp. 234-250. ISBN: 9780230008380
- Major, P. and Mitter, R. (2006) Culture. In: Dockrill, S. and Hughes, G. , (eds.) Palgrave Advances in Cold War History. Palgrave Advances Palgrave , Basingstoke. pp. 240-262. ISBN: 9781403934475
- Major, P. (2004) Future perfect?: Communist science fiction in the Cold War. In: Major, P. and Mitter, R. , (eds.) Across the Blocs: exploring comparative Cold War cultural and social history. Cold War History Cass , London. pp. 56-74. ISBN: 9780714684642
- Major, P. and Mitter, R. , eds. (2004) Across the Blocs: exploring comparative Cold War cultural and social history. Cold War History Cass , London. pp 160. ISBN: 9780714684642
- Major, P. (2002) Innenpolitische Aspekte der zweiten Berlinkrise (1958-1961). In: Hertle, H. , Jarausch, K. , Kleßmann, C. , (eds.) Mauerbau und Mauerfall: Ursachen, Verlauf, Auswirkungen. Ch. Links , Berlin. pp. 97-110. ISBN: 9783861532644
- Major, P. (2002) Going West: the open border and the problems of Republikflucht. In: Major, P. and Osmond, J. , (eds.) The workers' and peasants' state: communism and society in East Germany under Ulbricht, 1945-71. Manchester University Press , Mancheseter. pp. 190-209. ISBN: 9780719062896
- Major, P. (2002) Coming in from the cold: the GDR in the British spy thriller. In: Bauerkämper, A. , (eds.) Britain and the GDR: relations and perceptions in a divided world. Philo , Vienna. pp. 339-352. ISBN: 9783825702960
- Major, P. and Osmond, J. , eds. (2002) The workers' and peasants' state: communism and society in East Germany under Ulbricht, 1945-71. Manchester University Press , Manchester. pp 320. ISBN: 9780719062896
- Major, P. (2000) Symptom der zweiten Berlinkrise. In: Ciesla, B. , Lemke, M. , Lindenberger, T. , (eds.) Sterben für Berlin?: Die Berliner Krisen 1948: 1958 . Metropol , Berlin. pp. 221-243. ISBN: 9783932482274
- Major, P. (2000) 'Torschlußpanik und Mauerbau: "Republikfluht". In: Ciesla, B. , Lemke, M. , Lindenberger, T. , (eds.) Sterben für Berlin? Die Berliner Krisen 1948: 1958. Metropol , Berlin. pp. 221-243. ISBN: 9783932482274
- Major, P. (1999) Vor und nach dem 13. August 1961: Reaktionen der DDR-Bevölkerung auf den Bau der Berliner Mauer. Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , 39 pp. 325-354. ISSN: 0066-6506
- Major, P. (1998) The death of the KPD: communism and anti-communism in West Germany 1945-1956. Oxford Historical Monographs OUP , Oxford. pp 370. ISBN: 9780198206934