UCL history graduate published in History Today

James Williamson, a recent graduate from UCL History, has had an article published in 'History Today'. The piece is based on his final-year dissertation, which came proxime accessit for the Royal Historical Society/History Today Prize in 2006.

The success marks the third time a UCL historian has won or come close to winning the prize during the last five years. In 2002, Paul Shirley won first prize with a dissertation on resistance by North American émigré blacks in the Bahamas in the 1780s, and in 2003, Sami Abouzahr won joint first prize for his work on the European Recovery Program and American policy towards Indochina in the late 1940s.

James Williamson's dissertation asked 'To What Extent, if At All, Did the Marshall Plan Impose Limits Upon the Post War Labour Government's Policies of Nationalisation and Creation of a Welfare State?' The competition judges described the work as: 'Extremely impressive, mature and assured with a commanding mastery of the sources and the literature and an ability to craft an argument with skill, often one of apparent independence. [A] Clearly publishable, carefully organised, and meticulously researched piece. This is a heavyweight piece of original scholarship.'

The article is published as 'British Socialism and the Marshall Plan', and can be read in the February edition of 'History Today' or on the magazine's website. Full online access is via subscription or pay-per-view only, but members of UCL can access the article in full and for free via the University of London Senate House library's online journals collection.

James, now taking an MPhil in history at Cambridge, said: "UCL history undergraduates have performed really well in this competition in recent years and it is wonderful to have been a part of this. Our success serves as a real testimony to the exceptional quality of resources and teaching available to history students at UCL."

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