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{{short description|American historian}}

'''Leonard Monteath Thompson''' (born 6 March 1916, in [[Cranborne]], Dorset, England - died June 2004) was Charles J. Stillé Professor of History Emeritus at [[Yale]] and director of the former Yale Southern African Research Program. He is well known for his work on the formation of the [[Union of South Africa]] and the two-volume ''[[The Oxford History of South Africa]]'', a collaboration with N.M. Wilson., and has written and edited many books, including ''The Political Mythology of Apartheid'', ''The Frontier in History'' (with [[Howard Lamar]]), ''A History of South Africa'', and ''South African Politics'' (with Andrew Prior), all published by [[Yale University Press]].

==Life==
Born in England in 1916, Thompson was educated in both England and South Africa, and was a [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] at [[Oxford University]] from 1937 to 1939. He was a [[lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Navy during the Second World War]], and was awarded many medals for distinguished service. After the war, he taught at the [[University of Cape Town]]. Thompson was a professor at [[Yale University]] between 1969 and 1986, and was the founding director of the Yale Southern African Research Program, directing the foundation from 1977 until 1994. Thompson wrote many books and articles, including "The Unification of South Africa" and "Survival in Two Worlds: Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, 1786-1870". In the 1950s, Thompson was a founding member of the [[Liberal Party of South Africa|South Africa Liberal Party]], although he left the country in 1961, in the wake of the 1960 [[Sharpeville Massacre]]. In June 2004, Thompson died after a brief illness.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v33.n29/story27.html |title=Yale Bulletin and Calendar |access-date=2019-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930023335/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v33.n29/story27.html |archive-date=2013-09-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''The Unification of South Africa: 1902-1910'' (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1960).
* "Afrikaner nationalist historiography and the policy of apartheid." ''Journal of African History'' 3#1 (1962): 125-141.
* Editor, ''African societies in Southern Africa: historical studies'' (London: Heinemann, 1969).
*{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Leonard|title=Survival in two worlds : Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, 1786-1870|date=1976|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0198216939}}
* edited with [[Monica Wilson]]: ''The Oxford History of South Africa: South Africa to 1870. Vol. 1'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969).
* ''The Political Mythology of Apartheid'' (1986).
* ''A History of South Africa'' (1st ed. 1990; 4th ed. 2014 with Lynn Berat).

==Further reading==
* Saunders, Christopher. "Thompson, Leonard" in {{cite book|editor=Kelly Boyd|title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, vol 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC&pg=PA1190|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=1190–92|isbn=9781884964336 }}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110606203020/http://yalepress.yale.edu/reviews.asp?isbn=9780300065428 Book Reviews]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Leonard}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:British expatriates in South Africa]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]

Leonard Thompson (historian) - Revision history

imported>Neveselbert: link Royal Navy during the Second World War (via WP:JWB)