Leonard Monteath Thompson (born 6 March 1916, in Cranborne, Dorset, England - died June 2004) was Charles J. Stillé Professor of History Emeritus at Yale and director of the former Yale Southern African Research Program.
Wilson., and has written and edited many books, including The Political Mythology of Apartheid, The Frontier in History (with Howard Lamar), A History of South Africa, and South African Politics (with Andrew Prior), all published by Yale University Press.
He was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and was awarded many medals for distinguished service.
Thompson wrote many books and articles, including "The Unification of South Africa" and "Survival in Two Worlds: Moshoeshoe of Lesotho, 1786-1870".
In the 1950s, Thompson was a founding member of the South Africa Liberal Party, although he left the country in 1961, in the wake of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre.