John Foot (historian)

The son of journalist Paul Foot and his first wife, Monica (née Beckinsale),[1] Foot graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1986, and in 1991 gained his doctorate from Cambridge University, submitting a thesis on the socialist movements in Milan between 1914 and 1921. From 1989 until 1995, he was an associate lecturer at Cambridge University, organising seminars on Italian and French history during the twentieth century.

From 1992 to 1995, he held a Junior Research Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge, and he held a series of lectures at several Italian universities (Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara, IULM and Interaction Design Institute Ivrea), on the themes of postwar migration movements and urban developments of the Italian cities, especially with respect to Milan.

Later, he taught subjects related to the history and politics of Europe, with an emphasis on Italy, at several British universities, including Reading (1994), Keele (1995–96) and Strathclyde (1996). From 1996 to 2000, he worked at the Italian Department of University College of London (UCL), where he became a professor of Italian history until 2004. In 2013 he moved to the University of Bristol to take up the Chair in Modern Italian History. He is currently Director of the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.

From 1994 to 1997, he was secretary of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy, and was a member of the executive committee until 1999. In 1999, he was awarded the Dyos Prize in Urban History by the University of Cambridge. From 2010 to 2014 he was co-editor, with Professor Phil Cooke, of the journal Modern Italy.

In 2006, he was part of the jury The City of Cities, organised by the Province of Milan, and in 2007 he was part of the jury DH Lawrence, organised by the Province of Cagliari.

He has written a widely acclaimed history of Italian football, Calcio, published in 2006 (a 2007 edition included details of Italy's 2006 World Cup victory and the calciopoli scandal). The book was published in the US with the title Winning at all Costs. It has also been published in Italy, with the latest Italian edition updating the story to 2011. In 2006 this book came second in the prestigious Premio Bancarella Sport book prize. His interest in the cultural history of Italian sport was continued with his well-reviewed history of Italian cycling, Pedalare, which also appeared in both Italian and English. In addition, he has written a history textbook, Modern Italy, which was updated with a second edition in 2014.

In 2009 he published the study Italy's Divided Memory, which appeared in a longer Italian version as Fratture d'Italia.

In 2014 he brought out the first critical history of the radical Psychiatric reform in Italy – led by Franco Basaglia – which closed down the psychiatric hospitals there. Critically well received, this book also sold well and appeared in English with Verso publishers in 2015 with the title The Man who Closed the Asylums. This edition has received reviews in Nature, The Guardian, the TLS, the Financial Times and elsewhere. He was invited to festivals in Mantua and Pordenone in 2014-5 to discuss the book.

John Foot writes regularly for The Guardian, the TLS, the LRB and many other publications. He has published numerous academic articles, works as a reviewer and peer reviewer for grant-making bodies, journals and publishers – and has appeared on Radio 4, 5 Live, Radio 3, Irish national radio, Australian radio, Swiss TV, Italian national TV, Italian national and local radio and Brazilian TV. He also writes regularly for the Italian magazine Internazionale. He has had regular slots on Milan's Radio Popolare radio station and was for a time based in Milan.

2015 also saw a new edition – with a new preface – of Milano dopo il miracolo, the Italian edition of his 2001 book Milan Since the Miracle.

He has also directed a documentary film, Story of a House: Piazzale Lugano, 22 (2003), which was selected for the Film-maker film festival at the Milan Film Festival and has been screened in many places across Italy and the UK.

He lives in Bristol with his partner, Sarah, and his daughter, Corinna. His son Lorenzo, from a previous relationship, lives in Milan. He is a supporter of Arsenal, Plymouth Argyle and Inter Milan. He also backs the West Indies and Middlesex in cricket.