Ziegler, Paul R. 1938–2008

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Ziegler, Paul R. 1938–2008

PERSONAL:

Born May 18, 1938, in Orange, NJ; died January 27, 2008, in Holden, MA, of multiple myeloma; buried in St. John's Cemetery, Worcester, MA; married, c. 1964; wife's name Josephine; children: Paul, Christopher, Justin, and Anne. Education: Fairfield University, A.B., 1960; Fordham University, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., 1975. Attended New York University School of Law, University of London, and Harvard University. Religion: Roman Catholic.

CAREER:

Fordham University, New York, NY, instructor, 1964-65; Assumption College, Worcester, MA, professor of history, 1967-2005, chair of history department, 1970-73, 1994-2003. Visiting professor, University of Dallas in Rome, 1992-93. Member, Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Turning 22 Programs for Disabled Persons and Department of Mental Retardation's Human Rights Advisory Committee.

MEMBER:

Royal Historical Society, Northeast Conference of British Studies (secretary/treasurer).

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Endowment for the Humanities grants, 1978 and 1991; St. George's Parish Ministry Award, 2004.

WRITINGS:

(With Ronald K. Huch) Joseph Hume, The People's M.P., American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, PA), 1985.

Palmerston, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003.

Author of The History of the Western Public Culture, American Historical Association Convention, 1988; and The New World and Christian Humanism: Three Views, 1983.

SIDELIGHTS:

Paul R. Ziegler's biography of Henry Temple, titled simply Palmerston, traces the life of the Third Viscount Lord Palmerston, a lifelong politician, first as a Tory and later as a Liberal, who served as Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister of England from 1859 to 1865. Early in his career he was known for his fashion sense, aristocratic tendencies, and social gregariousness that earned him the nickname Lord Cupid; he was reportedly not favorably inclined toward a participatory democracy. He was recognized then and now as the embodiment of British values and nationalism, and a harbinger of the coming Victorian Era. Some attribute his popularity to his deft handling of the press.

Ziegler spent most of his career as a history professor at Assumption College in Massachusetts; Palmerston was written during a lengthy research sabbatical in London. While T.A. Jenkins, reviewing the book in Albion, lamented the fact that the author spent little time outlining Palmerston's educational and training for public life, the critic noted that "Ziegler makes some promising observations … about Palmerston's contribution to defining national consciousness." However, David F. Krein, also an Albion reviewer, wrote that the book "provides a remarkably succinct assessment of Palmerston's contributions, not only in foreign affairs but in domestic political developments as well." Both reviewers noted that the book's brevity assumes a reader's familiarity with the subject matter, thus making it a better supplement to weightier tomes on Palmerston than as a stand-alone volume. Yet Krein admired "the concluding paragraphs of each chapter [which] are models of cogent analysis—sensible, solid, and persuasive."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Albion, spring, 2004, David F. Krein, review of Palmerston, p. 157; June, 2004, T.A. Jenkins, review of Palmerston

American Historical Review, June, 1988, Thomas J. Spinner, Jr., review of Joseph Hume: The People's M.P., p. 698.

English Historical Review, January, 1991, F.C. Mather, review of Joseph Hume, p. 214; November, 2003, Rolf Myller, review of Palmerston, p. 1408.

Journal of British Studies, July, 1990, Abraham D. Kriegel, review of Joseph Hume, p. 281.