Frank McLynn

Last updated

Frank McLynn
FRHistS FRGS
Born
Francis James McLynn

(1941-08-29) 29 August 1941 (age 83)
Nationality British
OccupationAuthor
Notable workNapoleon

Genghis Khan

1066: The Year of the Three Battles

Francis James McLynn FRHistS FRGS (born 29 August 1941), known as Frank McLynn, is a British author, biographer, novelist, historian and journalist.

Contents

He is known for biographies of Napoleon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley.

Early Life and Education

McLynn was educated at the John Fisher School Purley, and won an Open Scholarship in Classics to Wadham College, Oxford [1] . Once at Oxford, McLynn switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). McLynn explained his choice by stating that "history and literature were my first loves, and I would always read them in future life, but I doubted that I would ever pick up a book on economics or philosophy again". This multi-disciplinary course formed part of McLynn's ambition to become a polymath.

Career

McLynn entered the professional world as a journalist. He developed an interest in Latin America, and spent two years in Colombia as Deputy Director of the British Council, and a subsequent year in Argentina as a Parry/Ford Foundation Fellow. He was awarded a PhD in the early 1970s for a thesis on Argentina in the 1860s.

Prior to and during his career as a writer, McLynn worked in academic positions in the UK and USA.

Academic positions

University/CollegePositionYears
Kings College, LondonAssistant lecturer1972-74
Humboldt State UniversityLecturer1977-78
St Antony's, OxfordAlistair Horne Research Fellow1987-88
Strathclyde University, GlasgowVisiting Professor1996-2001
Goldsmith's College, LondonProffesorial Fellow2000-02

Awards and Nominations

McLynn was shortlisted for the NCR Book Award for Carl Gustav Jung: A Biography

Bibliography

Books

TitleFirst PublishedPublisherReissuedReissued By
France and the Jacobite Rising of 17451981 Edinburgh University Press
The Jacobite Army in England, 1745-461983John Donald Publishers Ltd
The Jacobites1985 Routledge & Kegan Paul
Invasion: From the Armada to Hitler1987 Routledge
Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts1988Routledge2020Sharpe Books
Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth Century England1989Routledge
Stanley: The Making of an African Explorer, 1841-18771990Scarborough House Publishers
From the Sierras to the Pampas: Richard Burton's Travels in The Americas, 1860-691991 Trafalgar Square
Stanley: Sorcerer's Apprentice1992 Oxford University Press
Snow upon the Desert: The Life of Sir Richard Burton1993John Murray Publishers Ltd
Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa1993 Caroll & Graf Publishers
Famous Letters: Messages & Thoughts That Shaped Our World1993 Readers Digest Association
Fitzroy MacLean1993John Murray Publishers Ltd
Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography1994 Random House
Famous Trials: Cases That Made History1995 Readers Digest
Napoleon: A Biography1997 Arcade Publishing
Carl Gustav Jung: A Biography1997 Thomas Dunne Books
1066: The Year of the Three Battles1998 Johnathan Cape Pimlico
Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution2000 Basic Books
Wagons West: The Epic Story of America's Overland Trails2002 Grove Press
1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World2005 Atlantic Monthly Press
Lionheart and Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest*2006Jonathan Cape
Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor2009 Bodley Head
Heroes and Villains: Inside the Minds of the Greatest Warriors in History2009Pegasus
The Burma Campaign: Disaster Into Triumph 1942-452010Bodley Head2011Yale University Press
Captain Cook: Master of the Seas2011 Yale University Press
The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381-19262012Random House
Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World2015Bodley Head
Bipolar: The South Pole2018Crux Publishing
Bipolar: The North Pole

*Published in the USA as Richard and John: Kings at War (2007), Da Capo Press

As editor

Awards and accolades

See also

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References

  1. "Random House Books". Archived from the original on 23 June 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  2. "January Magazine". Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  3. "Midlothian, Our Library". Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2019.