Staff profile

Andrzej Olechnowicz has research interests in the social and cultural history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. His current research lies in two areas: the evolution and character of the British monarchy since 1837, seeking to understand its popularity and influence in shaping national identity; and notions of ‘leisure’, ‘community’ and ‘mass society’ in inter-war Britain. Teaching specialisms include nineteenth-century social history, the impact of twentieth-century wars in shaping British society and social policy, and the origins of the Edwardian Liberal welfare reforms.

• British social history since 1830
• the modern British monarchy
• British anti-fascism in the 1930s

• Britain and Continental Europe
• Economic and Social History
• Modern
• Political Cultures

• Health Inequalities in an Age of Austerity, Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Grant, £1 million (2013-2018)

Authored book

• (1997). Working-class Housing in England between the Wars: the Becontree Estate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chapter in book

• Olechnowicz, Andrzej (2017). 'For the many may be better than the few’ republicans and anti-monarchism in contemporary Britain. In (un)Making the Monarchy. Pankratz, Anette & Viol, Claus-Ulrich Universitatsverlag Winter. 201-226.
• Olechnowicz, Andrzej (2011). Britain's 'Quasi-Magical Monarchy' in the Mid-Twentieth Century. In Classes, Cultures and Politics: Essays on British History for Ross McKibbin. Griffiths, Clare V., Nott, James J. & Whyte, William Oxford: Oxford University Press. 70-84.
• Olechnowicz, A. (2010). Labour theorises fascism: A.D. Lindsay and Harold Laski. In Varieties of Anti-fascism. Britain in the Inter-war Period. Copsey, Nigel & Olechnowicz, Andrzej Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 202-23.
• Olechnowicz, A. (2010). Introduction: Historians and the Study of Anti-fascism. In Varieties of Anti-fascism. Britain in the Inter-war Period. Copsey, Nigel & Olechnowicz, Andrzej Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 1-27.
• Olechnowicz, A. (2007). Historians and the modern British monarchy. In The Monarchy and the British Nation, 1780 to the Present. Andrzej Olechnowicz Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 6-44.
• Olechnowicz, A. (2007). 'A jealous hatred': royal popularity and social inequality. In The Monarchy and the British Nation, 1780 to the Present. Andrzej Olechnowicz Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 280-314.

Edited book

• Copsey, Nigel & Olechnowicz, Andrzej (2010). Varieties of Anti-fascism. Britain in the Inter-war Period. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• (2007). The Monarchy and the British Nation, 1780 to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Journal Article

• Olechnowicz, A. (2005). Liberal anti-fascism in the 1930s the case of Sir Ernest Barker. Albion 36(4): 636-660.
• Olechnowicz, A. (2005). Unemployed workers, 'enforced leisure' and education for 'the right use of leisure' in Britain in the 1930s. Labour History Review 70(1): 27-52.
• Olechnowicz, A J (2000). Union first, politics after: Oldham cotton unions and the Labour party before 1914. Manchester Region History Review 14: 3-13.
• Olechnowicz, A J (2000). Civic leadership and education for democracy: the Simons and the Wythenshawe estate. Contemporary British History 14: 3-26.