Stefan Collini has taught at the universities of Sussex and Cambridge, where he is professor of intellectual history and English literature. A frequent contributor to periodicals such as the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and the Nation, his books include Public Moralists (1991), English Pasts (1999) and, most recently, Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain (2006) and Common Reading: Critics, Historians, Publics (2008).