Margaret MacMillan will be joining LSE IDEAS in September 2021 as Engelsberg Chair in History and International Affairs, thanks to funding from the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation.
Margaret MacMillan is Emeritus Professor of International History at the University of Oxford and former Warden of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. She specializes in the history of the British Empire and the international history of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her book Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War won the Samuel Johnson Prize. In 2021, Margaret won the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Her most recent book is War: How Conflict Shaped Us, looking at the ways in which war has influenced human society and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight.
The Engelsberg Chair is an annual distinguished visiting professorship for leading Swedish and global scholars who will give public lectures on topics of their choice. The annual post gives LSE IDEAS the opportunity to bring renowned academics to the School for a year of research and discussion.
LSE IDEAS Director Professor Christopher Coker said: “Margaret MacMillan is one of the world’s leading historians. It is a great honour for us to host her as our third Engelsberg Chair. The topic of her lectures, Alliances in war, promises to be as challenging as her previous work.”