Dr. Alison Meek is an Associate Professor in History at King’s University College, at the University of Western Ontario. After having initially focused on a career as a professional dancer, including enrolling in professional dance and musical theater programs in Banff, Alberta and London, England, Dr. Meek switched career paths and enrolled in the University of Toronto/Erindale. After completing her PhD in American history at the University of Toronto, she accepted a teaching position in the history department at King’s University College in July 2001.
Education
- PhD in History, University of Toronto, 2001
- MA in History, University of Toronto, 1992
- Honors BA in History, University of Toronto/Erindale, 1991
- Arts Education, School of Performing Arts, London, England, 1986
- Banff Center of Performing Arts, Banff, Alberta, 1985
Teaching
Current
- HIS2133 Cults, Terrorism and Extremism in American History
- HIS2301 The History of the United States
- HIS3308 Conspiracy Theories in American History
Previous
- HIS 4392E Terrorism USA
- HIS 4306E Cold War America
- HIS 3307E American Popular Culture
- HIS 3319E American Foreign Relations Since 1775
- HIS 4301E 20th Century America
- HIS 461E Canada and the United States
- HIS 496E Selected Topics: Advanced Research in Cold War US-Israeli Relations
- HIS 294Y America, Britain and Canada: The ABC’s of Transatlantic Relations (taught at the University of Sussex, England)
- HIS 378H America in the 1960s (taught at the University of Toronto)
- HIS 447H Advanced Readings in American Popular Culture (taught at the University of Toronto)
Research
- Conspiracy Theories
- Terrorism and extremism
- Cults
- Escaping extremist religions and groups
Selected Publications
ON-GOING RESEARCH INTERESTS AND PUBLICATION FOCUS
- 'Another reason to plan your family vacation someplace else': Cocaine Cowboys, Dead Tourists and Miami’s Image Woes, 1979-1995
- The Cadillac, The Kiwanis Club, and Harvey Jones
- McCarthyism and the Editorial Cartoons of Herblock and The Chicago Tribune and
- Breaking News: Comparing the TV News Coverage of Kennedy's Assassination, Vietnam, and the 9/11 Attacks"
SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS
- Murders and Pastels in Miami: The role of Miami Vice in Bringing Tourists Back to Miami
- Bomb Canada/Soviet Canuckistan: How the Conservative Media in the US Views Canada
- Breaking News: A Comparison of TV News Coverage of Kennedy's Assassination and the 9/11 Attacks
- The Media at War: From Vietnam to the War on Terror
- September 11th -- The Aftermath
- The Poisonous Pens: Editorial Cartoons and the Post World War II Anti Communist Hysteria
- 'Everyone is Against Joe McCarthy Except 150 Million Americans'
- The United States, the EEC, and the EFTA
- Working to Avoid a Breakdown: The United States, Britain and the Six, 1956-1959
- Kibitzers to Participants: Explaining America's European Integration Policy 1955-1960