Book Launch – John F. Kennedy By Ian James Bickerton
The Assistant President of the Legislative Council and Chair of the Sydney Institute for Public and International Affairs H.E. Shaoquett Moselmane welcomed Ian James Bickerton to the NSW Parliament House and hosted the launch of his most recent publication: John F. Kennedy: A Reference Guide to His Life.
This book covers details of all aspects of John F. Kennedy’s life, family and work. Despite his short tenure in office, Kennedy shaped the domestic and international direction of the nation for decades to come.
He is remembered domestically for the hope and encouragement he instilled in the struggle for civil rights, his support for the freedom riders and for equality for women.
Abroad, his memory lives in his handling of the Cold War against an aggressive Soviet Union and such events as the Berlin crisis and Wall, his intervention in the Vietnam War, the invasion of Cuba and Bay of Pigs disaster, the Cuban Missile crisis, and the beginnings of space exploration—all of which tested the young, relatively inexperienced, leader.
Author’s biography:
Ian J. Bickerton was born in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, where he gained his B.A. with Honors in History.
He received his M.A. at Kansas State University before completing his Ph.D. in United States history at the Claremont Graduate School in California, where he studied US immigration and diplomatic History.
He taught at Pomona College (California) before returning to UNSW where he taught modern United States history and U.S. foreign relations with special emphasis on relations with Israel and the Middle East.
He has also taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of California-Santa Barbara.
He has been twice a Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C. and also the Oxford Centre of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Oxford.
Ian has spent a fair bit of time researching the voluminous files in U.S. presidential libraries, including the John F. Kennedy Library outside Boston, Massachusetts, exploring presidential decision-making. He has also spent time in the U.S. and Israeli National Archives.
He is currently Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Languages at the UNSW, where he taught the history of the United States for more than thirty years.
In recent years has spent some time each year teaching U.S. students on Study Abroad programmes in Florence, Italy.
Ian is best known for his extensive work on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, on which he has written or edited nine books and assorted articles. He is especially interested in presidential decision-making.
Bickerton’s most recent publications include:
A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 8th edition (Routledge, Oxford, 2018)
The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East (Cengage, Melbourne, 2015)
The Arab-Israeli Conflict: a Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury N.Y. 2012)
The Illusion of Victory, the True Costs of Modern War (MUP, Melbourne, 2011)
The Arab-Israeli Conflict (Reaktion, London, 2009), and
Unintended Consequences: The United States at War (Reaktion, London, 2007), with Kenneth Hagan.
