Nicholas "Nick" James Atkin (18 September 1960 – 22 October 2009) was professor of modern European history at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

Early life

Nicholas James Atkin was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 18 September 1960.Professor Nicholas James Atkin 1960 - 2009.
University of Reading, 23 November 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2015. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School.

Career

Atkin was appointed lecturer in history at the

in 1986, having previously taught at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 2000 and the personal title of professor of modern European history was conferred on him in 2004. Atkin had two main areas of research: France and French issues in the twentieth century; and French and European

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He first made his mark with a monograph on Church and Schools in

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

, published in 1991, and followed this up with a biography of Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...

in 1997, a popular textbook on ''The French at War, 1933-44'' in 2001, ''The Forgotten French'', a study of French exiles, in 2003, and a book on the

French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic () is France's current republic, republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of France, Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged fr ...

in 2004. As well as these single authored works, he was joint author of ''Priests Prelates and People: A history of European Catholicism'' (2003), as well as editor of a number of books including ''The Right in France'' (1998), ''Catholicism in Britain and France'' (1995) and ''Religion Society and Politics in France'' (1991). He later edited a book on ''Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth Century Europe''. At the time of his death, he was working on a major study of Franco-British tourism in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and on a ''Dictionary of Modern European History''.

Death

Atkin died on 22 October 2009 at the age of 49.

Selected publications

*''Religion Society and Politics in France'', 1991. *''Catholicism in Britain and France'', 1995. *''The Right in France'', 1998. (Editor) *''The French at War, 1933-44'', 2001. *''The Forgotten French'', 2003. *''Priests Prelates and People: A history of European Catholicism'', 2003. (Jointly) *''Themes in modern European history, 1890-1945''. Routledge, 2009. (Edited with Michael D. Biddiss) *''The Wiley-Blackwell dictionary of modern European history since 1789''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. (Edited with Michael D. Biddiss and Frank Tallett)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkin, Nicholas 1960 births 2009 deaths Academics of the University of Reading People educated at Queen Elizabeth's High School People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire 20th-century British historians 21st-century British historians