Richard Charles Vinen (born 1963) is a British historian and academic who holds a professorship at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. Vinen is a specialist in 20th-century

European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early Eu ...

, particularly of Britain and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.Professor Richard Vinen.
King's College London. Retrieved 21 May 2015.

Life

Born in 1963 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Vinen grew up on the Bournville Estate. His father, Joe Vinen, was a professor of physics. From 1982 to 1989, Richard Vinen attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1985, and then completing his doctoral studies there;"Professor Richard Vinen"
''King's College London''. Retrieved 20 September 2018."Richard Vinen Curriculum Vitae"

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

(2015). Retrieved 20 September 2018. his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

was awarded in 1989 for his

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

"The politics of French Business 1936–1945", supervised by Christopher Andrew. Vinen was a Fellow at Trinity from 1988 to 1992, and was a part-time lecturer at

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

from 1988 to 1991. He eventually moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

where he and his wife lived in a succession of louche locations early in his career. He has written that "the Serious Crime Squad once installed a camera in our bedroom so that they could keep an eye on one of our neighbours." After lecturing at Queen Mary, he joined

in 1991 as a lecturer; he was promoted to a readership in 2001, and was appointed Professor of History in 2007. Vinen's book ''National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963'' (2014) received generally positive reviews. On 13 May 2015, he was presented with a Wolfson History Prize and Templer Medal for it. He also won the Walter Laqueur Prize in 2012 (recognising the best article in ''

Journal of Contemporary History The ''Journal of Contemporary History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of history in all parts of the world since 1930. It was established in 1966 by Walter Laqueur and George L. Mosse. Originally published by ...

'' of the previous year) for "The Poisoned Madeleine: The Autobiographical Turn in Historical Writing". In 2018, Vinen delivered the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hou ...

's Creighton Lecture on the topic "When was Thatcherism?". In 2020, he was one of three historians invited to give the ''

Historical Research Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be draw ...

'' Lecture; it was entitled "Writing histories of 2020".

Books

*''The Politics of French Business 1936–1945''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. *''Bourgeois Politics in France, 1945–1951''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. *''France, 1934–1970''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996. *''A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century''. London: Little, Brown, & Co., 2000. *''The Unfree French: Life under Occupation''. London: Penguin, 2006. *''Thatcher's Britain''. London: Simon & Schuster, 2009. *''National Service: Conscription in Britain 1945–1963''. London: Allen Lane, 2014. *''The Long '68: Radical Protest and Its Enemies''. London: Allen Lane, 2018. *''Second City: Birmingham and the Forging of Modern Britain''. London: Penguin, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinen, Richard Academics of King's College London Living people Academics of Queen Mary University of London Academics from Birmingham, West Midlands British historians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 1963 births Wolfson History Prize winners