University of Hertfordshire

Tony Shaw is a member of the History group at the University of Hertfordshire. To see the staff pages of his History colleagues click here.

   Shaw is an international historian specialising in propaganda and film. He was educated at the universities of Leeds and Oxford, and since 2001 has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is an Associate Fellow at Oxford's Rothermere American Institute and an Associate Fellow of the LSE IDEAS Cold War Studies Programme. He is co-editor of the journal Contemporary British History and media editor of American Communist History.

   Shaw has written five books and numerous peer-reviewed articles, and has edited four journal special-issues. He has written extensively on 20th-century international propaganda and cinema, and has worked on the modern history of the Middle East, on the culture of the Cold War, and on terrorism and the mass media.

   Shaw is currently collaborating with Israeli historian Giora Goodman on the first book-length study of the “special relationship” between Hollywood and Israel. Drawing on American, Israeli, Palestinian and European archives, the book investigates the assorted ways in which Hollywood’s producers, directors, actors and religious leaders have supported or challenged Israel, on and off screen, from the 1940s to the present day. It reveals the influence of Israeli and Arab public diplomacy both on Hollywood’s output and its lobbying activities, and sheds light on the political involvement with Israel of the likes of Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Vanessa Redgrave, Steven Spielberg, Natalie Portman and Haim Saban. Much more than a colourful film history, the book sees the world’s entertainment capital as a key player in international affairs and as a vital but hitherto neglected component of the history of Zionism.