David Swift (author)
{{Short description|English writer, and historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
David Swift (born 1987) is an English writer and historian.{{cite web |title=Speakers: David Swift |url=https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/speaker/david-swift/ |website=Battle of Ideas Festival}}
Swift studied history at Girton College, University of Cambridge.{{cite web |title=The Identity Myth |url=https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/benefits/book-shelf/the-identity-myth}}
Works
- For Class and Country: the Patriotic Left and the First World War (2017)
- A Left for Itself: Left-wing Hobbyists and Performative Radicalism (2019)
- The Identity Myth: Why We Need to Embrace our Differences to Beat Inequality (2022)
Swift's work focuses on left-wing activism and on different identities, such as class, race and gender.{{cite web |title=The Identity Myth |url=https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-identity-myth}} He has written for a variety of newspapers and periodicals including the New Statesman,{{cite web |title=David Swift, author at New Statesman |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/author/davidswift |website=The New Statesman}} Tribune,{{cite web |title=David Swift |url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/author/david-swift |website=Tribune |access-date=1 December 2022}} The Times,{{cite news |last1=Swift |first1=David |title=Until they are willing to compromise, Corbynistas will remain hobbyists |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/until-they-are-willing-to-compromise-corbynistas-will-remain-hobbyists-mpgp8zd68 |website=The Times |access-date=1 December 2022}} The Independent{{cite web |title=Author: David Swift|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/author/david-swift |website=The Independent}} and UnHerd.{{cite web |title=David Swift, a writer for UnHerd |url=https://unherd.com/author/david-swift/}}
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’.{{cite journal |last1=Stansky |first1=Peter |title=David Swift . For Class and Country: The Patriotic Left and the First World War. |journal=Journal of British Studies |date=2018 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=443–444 |doi=10.1017/jbr.2018.50|doi-access=free }}
Swift's second book, A Left for Itself,{{cite web |title=A Left for Itself |url=https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/left-for-itself |website=Zer0 Books}} was the first analysis of 'political hobbyism' in the UK,{{cite web |title='Today's leftists want to make politics all about themselves' |url=https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/03/12/todays-leftists-want-to-make-politics-all-about-themselves/}}{{cite web |last1=Bickerton |first1=James |title=Middle-class Corbynite 'hobbyists' are pushing working-class out of Labour claims author |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1199372/Labour-Party-news-Jeremy-Corbyn-middle-class-hobbyists-working-class-trade-unions |website=Daily Express|date=3 November 2019 }} and focused on what he termed 'performative radicalism' in the era of the internet and social media.{{cite web |last1=Swallow |first1=Christian |title=Protesting should be about wanting change, not for personal identity |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/opinion/18583 |website=Varsity |access-date=1 December 2022}} It was heralded as a definitive analysis of the failure of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.{{cite news |last1=Aaronovitch |first1=David |title=A Left for Itself by David Swift review — why the Corbynistas got clobbered |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/a-left-for-itself-by-david-swift-review-corbyn-6zhfm3rp3 |website=The Times}}
In 2022 Swift published his third book, The Identity Myth,{{cite book |title=The Identity Myth |url=https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/david-swift/the-identity-myth/9780349135335/ |publisher=Hachette|date=16 August 2021 |isbn=9780349135335 }}{{cite news |last1=Bloodworth |first1=James |title=The Identity Myth by David Swift review — identity politics... isn't it a bit racist? |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-identity-myth-by-david-swift-review-6lbs7hxnv |website=The Times |access-date=1 December 2022}} which interrogated common understandings of different 'identities' such as class, race, gender, and generation.{{cite web |last1=Bloodworth |first1=James |title=The Conservatives' levelling up love affair with the working class was over before it began |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2022/02/the-conservatives-levelling-up-love-affair-with-the-working-class-was-over-before-it-began |website=The New Statesman |date=February 2022 |access-date=1 December 2022}} It was a Next Big Idea Club finalist for 2022.{{cite web |title=The Identity Myth: Why We Need to Embrace Our Differences to Beat Inequality |url=https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/identity-myth-need-embrace-differences-beat-inequality-bookbite/35122/ |website=Next Big Idea Club}}