Stephen McVeigh graduated from the University of Westminster in 1994, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English and Linguistics.  He then moved to Swansea University where he completed his PhD, entitled Revisions of Shane: The Western and Political Culture, 1950-1992, in 2001. He began teaching in the American Studies Department in Swansea in 1996. Between 2000 – 2004, Stephen divided his time between lecturing in the History Department of the University of Wales Lampeter, and American Studies in Swansea. In September 2005, Stephen was appointed Lecturer in War & Society and Academic Director of the BA and MA War & Society programmes, both of which he designed. His areas of research are diverse and include 19th and 20th century American cultural history, American military history, American film, 20th century American literature and American pulp fictions. Currently he teaches courses on Frontier mythology in 20th century American history and culture, war in the modern era, propaganda film, the ‘American Way of War’, terrorism and culture, representations of war in American literature and he also contributes the foundation modules in both the undergraduate and postgraduate War & Society programmes. He is currently working on a number of projects, including “There are elements that show”: John Huston’s Propaganda Films in New Reflections: The Cinema of John Huston (MacFarland) and Hollywood Directors and WWII Propaganda Film in series World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension (Fordham University Press).

Research Supervision:

Sarah Trott, American Hard-Boiled Fiction and War Trauma: The Detective as Veteran.

Matthew Kapell, The ‘Frontier Myth’ and Anxiety about the Closed Frontier in Contemporary American Culture.

Books:

• The American Western (Edinburgh University Press, 2007).

Chapters:

• ‘Subverting Shane: Ambiguities in Eastwood’s Politics and Representations of Vietnam in Fistful of Dollars, High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider' in Clint Eastwood: Actor/Director ed. Len Engel (University of Utah Press, 2007)  
• ‘The Galactic Way of War: Warfare in the Star Wars Universe’ in Finding the Force in the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, and Critics eds. John Shelton Laurence & Matthew Kapell (Peter Lang Press, 2006)
• ‘American Literature 1900-1945’ in The Year’s Work in English Studies ,Volume 85 (Oxford University Press, 2006), Volume 84 (Oxford University Press, 2005) & Volume 83 (Oxford University Press, 2004)
• ‘Living Mythically: Remasculation Through Mass Culture in Germany and America in the 1930s’ in The Haunted Wood: Essays in Cultural History in the US and the UK in the 1930s and 1940s ed. Christopher Brookeman (Aurum, 1999)

Administration:

• Department (War and Society): Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Postgraduate Studies, Admissions Officer, Examinations Officer, Quality Officer and Disability Officer
•  School: Head of War & Society, Chair of War and Society Board,  Chair of School of Humanities Forum, Representative for War and Society on School Learning and Teaching Committee, School Taught Masters Committee and School Admissions, Marketing and Recruitment Committee, Deputy Director Callaghan Research Centre Board
• University: Member of the Swansea University Widening Access Steering Group