Palmer, Alan Warwick 1926-

PERSONAL:

Born September 28, 1926, in Ilford, Essex, England; son of Warwick Lindley and Edith Palmer; married Veronica Mary Cordell, September 1, 1951. Education: Oriel College, Oxford, M.A. and M.Litt., 1951. Hobbies and other interests: Travel.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Oxford, England. Agent—Campbell Thomson & McLaughlin Ltd., 31 Newington Green, London N16 9PU, England.

CAREER:

Writer. Highgate School, London, England, assistant master, 1951-53, senior history master, 1953-69. Military service: Royal Navy, 1944-47.

MEMBER:

Royal Society of Literature (fellow).

WRITINGS:

HISTORICAL NONFICTION

A Dictionary of Modern History, 1789-1945, Cresset (London, England), 1962, Dufour Editions (Philadelphia, PA), 1964.

(With C.A. Macartney) Independent Eastern Europe: A History, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1962.

Yugoslavia, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1964.

The Gardeners of Salonika, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1965.

Napoleon in Russia, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1967.

The Lands Between: A History of East-Central Europe since the Congress of Vienna, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1970.

Metternich, Harper (New York, NY), 1972.

The Life and Times of George IV, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1972.

Russia in War and Peace, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1972.

Alexander I: Tsar of War and Peace, Harper (New York, NY), 1974.

Age of Optimism, Newsweek Books (New York, NY), 1974.

(Editor) Nations and Empires, Newsweek Books (New York, NY), 1974.

Frederick the Great, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1974.

(Author of commentary) Arthur Banks, A Military Atlas of the First World War, Taplinger (New York, NY), 1975, reprinted, Leo Cooper (Barnsley, South Yorkshire), 2001.

Bismarck, Scribner (New York, NY), 1976.

Kings and Queens of England, Octopus (London, England), 1976.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) Quotations in History: A Dictionary of Historical Quotations, c. 800 A.D. to the Present, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 1976.

The Kaiser: Warlord of the Second Reich, Scribner (New York, NY), 1978.

Princes of Wales, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1979.

The Facts on File Dictionary of 20th Century History, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1979.

The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth-Century History, Allen Lane (London, England), 1979, Penguin (New York, NY), 1983, 5th edition, 2002.

Who's Who in Modern History, 1860-1980, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1980, Holt (New York, NY), 1981, reprinted, Routledge (London, England), 2002.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) Who's Who in Shakespeare's England, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1981, reprinted, 1999.

The Chancelleries of Europe, Allen & Unwin (Boston, MA), 1983.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) Royal England: A Historical Gazetteer, Methuen (London, England), 1983.

An Encyclopedia of Napoleon's Europe, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Crowned Cousins: The Anglo-German Royal Connection, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1985.

The Banner of Battle: The Story of the Crimean War, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1987.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) Who's Who in Bloomsbury, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1987.

The East End: Four Centuries of London Life, J. Murray (London, England), 1989, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 2000.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) The Chronology of British History, Century (London, England), 1992.

The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, M. Evans (New York, NY), 1992.

Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Dictionary of the British Empire and Commonwealth, J. Murray (London, England), 1996.

(With wife, Veronica Palmer) The Pimlico Chronology of British History: From 250,000 BC to the Present, Pimlico (London, England), 1996.

Who's Who in World Politics: From 1860 to the Present Day, Routledge (New York, NY), 1996.

The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth-Century History Constable (London, England), 1999.

Victory 1918, Atlantic Monthly Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Napoleon & Marie Louise: The Second Empress, Constable (London, England), 2001.

A Military Atlas of the First World War, Leo Cooper (London, England), 2001.

Who's Who in Modern History: From 1860 to the Present Day, Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and Its Peoples, J. Murray (London, England), 2006.

The Salient: Ypres, 1914-18, Constable (London, England), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Alan Warwick Palmer's history books range widely in subject matter and tone, from serious works, such as The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, to lighter volumes such as Who's Who in Shakespeare's England. Palmer is perhaps best known for his reference-style histories and chronologies, some of which he wrote with his wife. In an Orbis review of Palmer's Who's Who of World Politics: From 1860 to the Present Day, Shaynee G. Snider observed: "The range of entries is basically a boon, particularly because most contain useful bibliographic information for follow-up reading."

Even though most of Palmer's books concern themselves with European—and particularly English—history, a vast majority of them have found American publishers. A case in point is The East End: Four Centuries of London Life. Palmer chronicles the evolution of London's East End from a derelict district, haunted by the likes of Jack the Ripper, to a modern model of urban renewal. In a Booklist review of the title, Jay Freeman praised Palmer for "a sharp, witty style that is ideal for his survey of an area that always seems about to bubble over with diversity and vitality." Freeman deemed the work "insightful and stimulating."

In Victory 1918, Palmer devotes much of his research and writing to the lesser-known battlegrounds of World War I, from the Middle East to the Balkans. Citing the book's "rigorously professional narrative," Brad Hooper concludes in Booklist that the reader with a background in history "will profit most from this thorough account, which pays as much attention to what went on in Mesopotamia and Egypt as in Flanders fields." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted: "As he ably shifts between the diplomatic big picture and the local horrors of the trenches, Palmer presents the war in all its banality and valor."

In Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and Its Peoples, Palmers takes a reader on a journey through the history of the European countries surrounding the Baltic sea. "Despite juggling a dozen countries, three religions and the rise and fall of four empires, he handles complex material so logically and elegantly that the reader can easily digest a diet of unfamiliar names and places," praised a reviewer for the Economist, who nonetheless noted the book's lack of illustrations beyond three maps and a dearth of economic-related information. "Drawing essentially on secondary literature and on his own travels, Palmer's account offers few surprises, but he does have an impressive range, both chronologically and geographically," remarked Jeremy Black in History Today. "Palmer's panorama perceptively grasps the inter relationships of the Baltic nations within European history," commended Michael Moran in his review of the book for Geographical.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1999, Brad Hooper, review of Victory 1918, p. 598; May 1, 2000, Jay Freeman, review of The East End: Four Centuries of London Life, p. 1647.

Contemporary Review, March, 2001, review of Napoleon & Marie Louise: The Second Empress, p. 188.

Economist, July 16, 2005, "Herrings and History; the Baltic Sea," p. 81.

Geographical, September, 2005, Michael Moran, review of Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and Its Peoples, p. 80.

History Today, September, 2005, Jeremy Black, review of Northern Shores, p. 56.

Library Journal, December, 1999, Robert Persing, review of Victory 1918, p. 159.

Orbis, summer, 1997, Shaynee G. Snider, review of Who's Who in World Politics: From 1860 to the Present Day, p. 499.

Publishers Weekly, February 6, 1995, review of Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph, p. 70; December 13, 1999, review of Victory 1918, p. 75; April 10, 2000, review of The East End, p. 89.

Spectator, July 30, 2005, Adam Zamoyski, review of Northern Shores, p. 33.