Helen McCarthy is Professor of Modern and Contemporary British History at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include the social and political history of the interwar period, women's work and professional identities, and the social and cultural history of diplomacy. Her first book, The British People and the League of Nations (Manchester University Press, 2011), explored the place of popular internationalism in British society and politics between the wars. Her second book, Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat (Bloomsbury, 2014), explored the history of women in British diplomatic life since the mid-nineteenth century and was named Best International Affairs Book at the Political Book Awards 2015. Her third book, Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood (Bloomsbury, 2020) was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and longlisted for the Historical Writers Association Non-Fiction Crown Award. Helen is a member of the British Academy's Public Policy Committee and has extensive experience of media and policy engagement.
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