Alan Warwick Palmer (28 September 1926 – 25 March 2022) was a British author of popular historical and biographical books. A number of these books were translated into other languages.

Background

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Palmer was educated at Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, London, and Oriel College, Oxford. He spent 19 years as senior history teacher at Highgate School before becoming a full-time writer and researcher.[1] His late wife, Veronica Palmer collaborated on several of his books.

The historian Martin Gilbert was a pupil of Palmer's at Highgate, and contributed a foreword to a 2003 reprinting of his book Napoleon in Russia stating: "Alan Palmer is one of my favourite historians. I have read all his thirty plus books, and have learned from them all. His reference works serve as models of clarity and presentation... how lucky we schoolboys were to have a working historian as our teaching historian".[2]

Death

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Palmer died on 25 March 2022, at the age of 95.[3]

Honours and awards

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He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1980.[4]

Bibliography

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Biographies

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  • The Life and Times of George IV (1972). Weidenfeld & Nicolson "Kings and Queens" series.
  • Metternich: Councillor of Europe (1972).
    • (in German) Metternich. Der Staatsmann Europas (1977; 1986). ISBN 978-3-546-47346-0.
  • Alexander I: Tsar of War and Peace (1974).
  • Frederick The Great (1974). Weidenfeld & Nicolson "Great Lives" series.
  • Bismarck (1976).
    • (in German) Bismarck. Eine Biographie (1976).
  • Kings and Queens of England (1976; reprinted 1985).
  • The Kaiser: Warlord of the Second Reich (1978). ISBN 978-0-297-77393-1.
  • Princes of Wales (1979).
  • Bernadotte: Napoleon's Marshal, Sweden's King (1990).
    • (in Swedish) Bernadotte. Napoleons marskalk, Sveriges kung (1992).
  • Kemal Atatürk (1991). "Makers of the 20th Century" series.
  • Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph (1994; reprinted 1997). ISBN 978-0-87113-665-7.
    • (in German) Franz Joseph I. Kaiser von Österreich und König von Ungarn (1995)
  • Napoleon & Marie Louise: The Emperor's Second Wife (2001).

History

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Reference works

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  • A Dictionary of Modern History, 1789–1945 (1962; reprinted 1964, 1972, 1984). reprinted as The Penguin Dictionary of Modern History.
  • A Military Atlas of the First World War (1975). ISBN 0-3128-7096-5. with Arthur Banks.
  • Quotations in History: A Dictionary of Historical Quotations c.800 to the present (1976; reprinted 1985). with Veronica Palmer.
  • The Facts on File Dictionary of 20th Century History (1979; reprinted).
  • Who's Who in Modern History (1980; reprinted).
  • Who's Who in Shakespeare's England (1981). ISBN 0-3128-7096-5. with Veronica Palmer.
  • The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth Century History (2nd ed., 1983). ISBN 0-1405-1131-8.
  • An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon's Europe (1984; reprinted 1998). ISBN 978-0094787001.
  • Who's Who in Bloomsbury (1987). with Veronica Palmer.
  • A Dictionary of Modern Politics (1993?).
  • The Chronology of British History: from 250,000 BC to the present day (1995). with Veronica Palmer.
  • Dictionary of the British Empire and Commonwealth (1996).
  • Who's Who in World Politics (1996). Routledge "Who's Who" series.

References

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  1. ^ History Study Centre: Retrieved 24 April 2012.; Faber author page: Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  2. ^ "Alan Palmer: 28 September 1926 – 25 March 2022". Sir Martin Gilbert. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Palmer, Alan Warwick". The Times. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Royal Society of Literature All Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
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