David Ballantyne

Dr David Ballantyne is a Senior Lecturer in American History and Programme Director for Liberal Arts at Keele University's School of Humanities. He holds undergraduate, MPhil, and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining Keele in 2016, he held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Leiden University. His research focuses on 19th- and 20th-century U.S. history, specializing in politics, race, inequality, and historical memory. He has published two books: New Politics in the Old South: Ernest F. Hollings in the Civil Rights Era (2016) and Fractured Freedoms: Reconstructing Central Louisiana (2025). His work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Southern History and Civil War History. He has organized conferences including the 2020 HOTCUS Winter Symposium on food, health, and welfare in U.S. history and the 2023 British Association for American Studies Annual Conference. He currently serves on the Membership Committee of the Southern Historical Association and the Executive Committee of the British Association for American Studies. Previously, he was the Membership Secretary for HOTCUS.