I am a historian of the 20th century, including the history of intelligence (cleverness, not spies), internationalism, and modern Spain. My work revolves around the history of international cooperation and exchange in the  twentieth century, particularly the international history of modern Europe. I am particularly interested in the history of global and international health in the 20th century, including the work of international health organisations such as the WHO, and of international networks of health experts.

​

My latest book, Smart: A History of Intelligence (Footnote Press), draws on the history of science, politics, and popular culture to uncover the stories of the people and projects that built the idea of modern intelligence – the men and women who created Mensa, the priest who built a village for gifted children in the mountains of Sicily, and the plan to boost the intelligence of the Venezuelan people by teaching them lateral thinking skills. These stories also reveal the dark side of intelligence, an idea that drove the modern counter-revolution against equality.

​

My first monograph, Franco’s Internationalists (available open access), explores the role of health and welfare experts in promoting Spain’s Franco regime on the international stage. It explores the debate about Spain during the early history of the WHO, inter-imperial health cooperation in post-war Africa, and international networks of health experts in Latin America. I have published articles on Francoist leprosy care in colonial Africa, and international health cooperation in Nazi-occupied Europe.

​​

 

Publications

​

Brydan, David. Smart: A History of Intelligence (Footnote Press, 2026)

​

Brydan, David. Franco’s Internationalists: Spanish Social Experts and Spain’s Search for Legitimacy

(Oxford University Press, 2019).

​

Brydan, David. ‘Transnational Exchange in the Nazi New Order: The Spanish Blue Division and its

Medical Services’, Journal of Contemporary History, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009418786789

(August 2018)

​

Brydan, David. ‘Mikomeseng: Leprosy, Legitimacy and Francoist Repression in Spanish Guinea’,

Social History of Medicine, 31:3 (August 2018), 627-647.

​

Brydan, David. ‘Axis Internationalism: Spanish Health Experts and Nazi Germany, 1939-1945’,

Contemporary European History, 25:2 (May 2016), 291-311.

​

Engagement Activities:

​

Podcasts:

​

An Authoritarian History of International Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,

2018 (https://history.lshtm.ac.uk/2017/08/22/authoritarian-history-international-health-public-health-international-expertise-francos-spain/)

​

Leprosy and Rebellion in Spanish colonial Africa, Birkbeck, 2018 (https://soundcloud.com/birkbeck-podcasts/leprosy-and-rebellion-in-spanish-colonial-africa)

​

Articles:

​

‘Strangling angel’ of diphtheria caught Spain off guard – here’s how’, The Conversation, 12 June 2015 (with Dora Vargha, https://theconversation.com/strangling-angel-of-diptheria-caught-spain-off-guard-heres-how-43148)

​

‘Los antivacunas y el pasado fascista de España’, El País, 12 June 2015 (with Dora Vargha, in Spanish - https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/06/12/ciencia/1434106606_164164.html)

​

‘La rebelión de los leprosos de Franco’, El País, 22 Jul 2019 (in Spanish, https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/07/12/ciencia/1562935976_621999.html)

​

'The Coronavirus response was never just about saving lives', Huffington Post, 30 March 2020 (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/coronavirus-who-government-advice_uk_5e81e9cfc5b6cb9dc1a3e7e9?guccounter=1) 

​

'La España franquista y la politización de la OMS', El País, 28 April 2020, https://elpais.com/ciencia/2020-04-28/la-espana-franquista-y-la-politizacion-de-la-oms.html

​

​

​

​