Warren Dockter

Biography

Warren Dockter is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and gained his PhD at the University of Nottingham. His book Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East (2015) challenged notions surrounding Winston Churchill's Islamophobia. According to Dockter, Churchill's often quoted criticism of Islam was written during a time of a fundamentalist revolt in Sudan and this statement does not reflect his full views of Islam as a religion, which were "often paradoxical and complex." He could be critical but at times "romanticized" the Islamic world; he exhibited great "respect, understanding and magnanimity." Churchill had a fascination of Islam and Islamic civilization. Winston Churchill's future sister-in-law expressed concerns about his fascination by stating, "[p]lease don't become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalism." However, Dockter also asserted that Churchill "never seriously considered converting" to Islam.

Notably, Dockter worked with Boris Johnson as his research assistant for the book the Churchill Factor: How One Man made History.

Publications

2015: Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East, I.B. Tauris ISBN 978-1780768182

2015: Churchill at the Telegraph (Editor) Aurum ISBN 978-1781314524