David Swift (born 1987) is an English writer and historian. [1]
Swift studied history at Girton College, University of Cambridge. [2]
David Swift (born 1987) is an English writer and historian. [1]
Swift studied history at Girton College, University of Cambridge. [2]
Swift's work focuses on left-wing activism and on different identities, such as class, race and gender. [3] He has written for a variety of newspapers and periodicals including the New Statesman , [4] Tribune , [5] The Times , [6] The Independent [7] and UnHerd . [8]
Swift's first book, a history of the British Left during the First World War, was described by reviewer Prof Peter Stansky as ‘an important contribution to the ever-fascinating subject of the history of the British left [and] the development of the Labour party’. [9]
Swift's second book, A Left for Itself, [10] was the first analysis of 'political hobbyism' in the UK, [11] [12] and focused on what he termed 'performative radicalism' in the era of the internet and social media. [13] It was heralded as a definitive analysis of the failure of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party at the 2019 United Kingdom general election. [14]
In 2022 Swift published his third book, The Identity Myth, [15] [16] which interrogated common understandings of different 'identities' such as class, race, gender, and generation. [17] It was a Next Big Idea Club finalist for 2022. [18]