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Curriculum Vitae [abbreviated]
Edward Beasley, PhD, FRHistS
Historian of the
Nineteenth-Century
Professor
of History, Emeritus
Positions Held
Lecturer, San Diego State University History Department, Spring 1994-Spring 2006
Lecturer,
Lecturer,
Associate Professor of History,
(with tenure, 2008-2011)
Professor of History,
Professor of History,
(teaching one semester per year through 2027)
Courses Taught
|
History 100 |
World History to 1500 |
16 sections |
|
History 101 |
World History Since 1500 |
19 |
|
History 102 |
World History through Science and Technology* |
2 |
|
History 105 |
Western Civ. to 16th Century |
23 |
|
History 106 |
Western Civ. from 16th Century |
13 |
|
History 305B |
European History since 1789 |
1 |
|
History 400W |
The Historian’s Craft |
1 |
|
History 407A (later 407) |
|
19 |
|
History 407B (later 408) |
|
16 |
|
History 411 |
Early World History for Teachers |
26 |
|
History 412 |
Modern World History for Teachers* |
3 |
|
History 418 |
Modern British History* |
6 |
|
History 450W |
The Writing of History |
4 |
|
History 509 |
The British Century: |
10 |
|
History 516 |
Modern World Imperialism*† |
5 |
|
History 601 |
Graduate Seminar in Historical Methods |
5 |
|
History 620/680 |
Graduate Seminar: Making
Victorian |
3 |
|
History 620 |
Graduate Seminar: The History of Race* |
2 |
|
History 620 |
Graduate Seminar: |
3 |
|
History 665 |
Seminar in History |
1 |
|
Liberal Studies 300 |
Introduction to Liberal Studies |
12 |
* Originated course.
† Originally taught as History 582, Topics in Social and Cultural History
|
History 15 |
World Civilization before 1500 |
1 section |
|
History 16 |
World Civilization since 1500 |
1 |
Peer-Reviewed Academic
Monographs
Empire as the Triumph of Theory:
Imperialism, Information, and the Colonial Society of 1868
(London: Routledge, November 2004; NY: Routledge, April 2005; paperback,
August 2015) (slightly over 100,000 words)
–'This is a very lively, readable and worthwhile work … the most stimulating
book I have read on imperial ideology for a while' – Bernard Porter, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
34:3 (September 2006): 463-465.
Mid-Victorian
Imperialists: British Gentlemen and the Empire of the Mind
(
–'[A] valuable addition to our understanding of how the British envisioned
their empire' – Peter Cain, History
92:305 (January 2007): 128-129.
The Victorian
Reinvention of Race: New Racisms and the Problem of Grouping in the Human
Sciences
(NY: Routledge, June 2010;
(slightly over 113,000 words)
–'[A] compact, no-nonsense, and smart overview of the idea of "race"
in Victorian England' – Vincent Pecora, American
Historical Review 116:3 (June 2011): 870-871.
– 'Beasley has produced a fascinating ensemble of case studies that complicates
received assumptions about the history of racial ideas in the nineteenth
century…. This is an intelligent, provocative, and attractively quirky book' –
Colin Kidd, Economic History Review
64:4 (November 2011): 1395-1396.
–'[A] clear and important contribution….' '[A] finely researched story of the
emergence of, and resistance to, nineteenth-century racism in English thought'
– Audrey Fisch, Nineteenth-Century
Contexts 34:4 (2012): 368-370.
The Chartist
General: Charles James Napier, the Conquest of Sind, and Imperial Liberalism
(
–'The task Beasley sets himself in this impressively detailed study is to "reconcile the Good Napier with the Bad". His methodology combines extensive engagement with a wide range of sources and the exercise of "historical imagination to recapture the spirit of the time". One of the strengths of this study is the way it succeeds in showing how Napier’s ideas and attitudes emerge from the complex interaction of his family background, personal experience and intellectual interests with his particular historical moment.... The Chartist General succeeds in its aim of showing the continuities between the Chartist and colonial phases of Napier’s career. It explains rather than excuses Napier’s choices and in this respect it demonstrates the advantages of the "historical imagination" as a methodological tool.' – Michael Sanders, Social History 43:2 (May 2018): 273-274.
A Male Hysteria: Diabetes and the Victorian Mind
(Philadephia: The American Philosophical Society; distributed by the
–'The scientific history of this
chronic health condition is in itself fascinating and important, but Beasley also does an incredible job capturing the history of medical treatments (which were
sometimes, but not always, based in science) as well as the evolving human
story of what it has meant in different eras to live with this chronic health
condition. To derive this multifaceted understanding, he draws from diverse
sources that include not only expert medical texts but also personal
correspondence and other forms of writing that document the experiences of
diabetic patients themselves. Beasley's prose and engaging storytelling make
this book appropriate for a wide audience of readers....' – Amy Koerber,
Journal of the History of the Behavioral
Sciences, 61:2 (February 2025): n.p.
–'A Male Hysteria is an excellent and riveting read that will be of interest to scholars
of the history of science and medicine and their students.'– J. Rankin, Choice 62:12 (August 2025). Choice
Editors' Pick for August 2025.
The Victorian View:
Ways of Understanding the World in the 19th Century
(Forthcoming from
the American Philosophical Society Press, March 2027) (about 122,500 words)
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
'Views of Gentlemanly Capitalism,
1837-1842: The Colonial Society and the Chartists' (10,222 words), in Toyin
Falola and Emily Brownwell (eds.), Africa,
Empire and Globalization: Essays in Honor of A.G. Hopkins (
–'[A]n interesting essay on the Chartist appreciation of the importance of finance capitalism' – Richard Price, Journal of African History 53:2 (July 2012): 277.
'British Views of Canada at the Time of Confederation'
(about 5500 words), in Jacqueline D. Krikorian, Marcel Martel, and Adrian
Schubert (eds), Globalizing
Confederation:
'The Nineteenth-century Information Revolution and World Peace' (about 10,290 words), in Chris Meyns (ed.), Information and the History of Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2021): 229-244.
Invited Contributions/Book Reviews: [omitted]
Service Highlights
Chair of the
Chair, SDSU Student Research Committee [running the annual SDSU Student Research Symposium], 2015-2018
Chair, SDSU Senate Library Committee, Spring 2018-Spring 2021
Chair of the History Department, 2019-2022
Professional Qualifications
BA, Third
Major: Urban Studies and Planning. Minors: History, Literature
MA and CPhil in History, UCSD, June 1989
Major Field, Modern
Second Minor: English
Literature
PhD in History, UCSD, 4 Sept. 1993. Dissertation:
Who Built the Bandwagon?:
A Study of the Founders of
the Colonial Society of 1868
Committee: John S. Galbraith
(co-chair); Judith M. Hughes (co-chair); Roy Ritchie;
Andrew
Wright; Thomas Dunseath
11/2026