Alastair Bellany

Alastair Bellany is a Professor of History at Rutgers University, where he has been teaching since 1996. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and a B.A. (First Class Honours) from Oxford University. He is affiliated with the Department of History within the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers.

Professor Bellany's research focuses on the political culture of early modern England and the cultural origins of the English Revolution. His work spans several interconnected fields including:

• Early Modern British Isles: Political and Media History
• Climate and Environmental History
• News, media, and the political public sphere
• Popular politics and political agency
• The interplay between early modern politics, literature and visual culture
• Poison and medicine in historical context
• Scandalous images of early Stuart court favorites

His current research projects include completing a textbook on the history of the Britannic Isles from prehistory to 1715, an essay project on the politics of mid- and late-seventeenth-century antiquarian interpretations of Stonehenge, a major new project on late medieval and early modern climate history titled "Looking for the Little Ice Age", and a small book exploring the history of song through socio-cultural analysis of a late Stuart hanging ballad.

Professor Bellany's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on political scandal, media culture, and visual representation in early modern England. His work often examines how news circulated in manuscript form, how political libels functioned as tools of dissent, and how visual imagery shaped political perceptions at court. Recent work shows an expanding interest in environmental history and the cultural dimensions of climate change in historical perspective.

His scholarly achievements have been recognized with numerous awards:

• Rutgers University Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research (2017)
• Co-winner, Book Prize of the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies (2016)
• ACLS Collaborative Research Fellowship (2012)
• Seminar Director, Folger Institute, Folger Shakespeare Library (2009)
• Rutgers University Board of Trustees' Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence (2003)
• Rutgers University FAS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Undergraduate Education (2000)
• Whiting Fellowship (1994)
• Brackenbury Scholarship, Balliol College, Oxford (1987)

Professor Bellany is actively involved in mentoring students and has directed numerous undergraduate and graduate research projects. He regularly teaches courses including A History of the Britannic Isles, The Arts of Power: Ritual, Myth and Propaganda, Histories of the Little Ice Age, Reformation England, Revolutionary England, and The English Revolution. He also leads Byrne First Year Seminars on specialized topics such as verse libels and capital punishment. His service to the academic community includes serving on the NACBS Program Committee (2015-17) and as General Editor for the series on Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain at Manchester University Press.

As a leading scholar in early modern British history, Professor Bellany maintains active research collaborations and participates in scholarly networks focused on political culture, media history, and climate history. His work bridges traditional historical methodologies with innovative approaches to understanding how information circulated in pre-modern societies and how environmental factors shaped historical developments.