Quick Facts
Biography
Esmond Wright (5 November 1915, Newcastle upon Tyne – 9 August 2003, Masham, North Yorkshire) was an English historian of the United States, Director of the Institute of United States Studies at the University of London from 1971 to 1983, a television personality, author, and a Conservative politician.
Wright had a grammar school education in Newcastle upon Tyne, before winning an open scholarship to Durham University and, in 1938, a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship to the University of Virginia. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 1988. In a 1967 by-election, he was returned as a Conservative Member of Parliament for the previously Labour-held seat of Glasgow Pollok. He was defeated by Labour's James White in the 1970 General Election.
Works
Wright's publications include
- Fabric of Freedom, 1763-1800, Hill and Wang, New York 1961.
- History of the World. The Last Five Hundred Years, editor, Bonaza Books, New York 1981.
- The Fire of Liberty, editor, The Folio Society, London 1983.
- Franklin of Philadelphia, Harvard University Press, 1986.