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 university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

Early life

Nicholas James Atkin was born in

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

, 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-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. 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 largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

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

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

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 (french: Cinquième République) is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged from ...

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