David Cressy is a research professor of history at Claremont Graduate University. Although his interests range from the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia to the age of Galileo and gunpowder, he is primarily a social historian of early modern England. His interests have led him to research all aspects of the society, culture, religion, and politics of England under the Tudors and Stuarts, from the late 15th to the early 18th centuries. Throughout his career, he has treated English history as part of British and European history and has paid specific attention to the British abroad, including adventurers and settlers across the Atlantic.
A UK native, Cressy received four degrees from the University of Cambridge before coming to the United States. He has taught at liberal arts colleges in California; California State University, Long Beach; and Ohio State University. At Ohio State University, he served as the Humanities Distinguished Professor of History and George III Professor of British History.
Throughout his career, he has published numerous books on early modern England, including: Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge University Press, 1980); Religion and Society in Early Modern England (with Lori Anne Ferrell, Routledge, 1996, 2nd ed. in 2005); Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England (Oxford University Press, 1997); England on Edge: Crisis and Revolution 1640-1642 (Oxford University Press, 2007); Dangerous Talk: Scandalous, Seditious and Treasonable Speech in Pre-Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2010); and Saltpeter: The Mother of Gunpowder (Oxford University Press, 2012). Cressy has also written articles about kinship, book-burning, cross-dressing, saltpeter, and the man in the moon.
Saltpeter: The Mother of Gunpowder. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Dangerous Talk: Scandalous, Seditious, and Treasonable Speech in Pre-Modern England. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
England on Edge: Crisis and Revolution 1640–1642. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Co-authored with Lori Anne Ferrell. Religion and Society in Early Modern England: A Sourcebook 2nd Ed. London: Routledge, 2005.
Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980.