Frank McLynn
Frank McLynn FRHistS FRGS | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francis James McLynn 29 August 1941 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Author |
| Notable work | Napoleon
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.
He is known for biographies of Napoleon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley.
Early Life and Education
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]| University/College | Position | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Kings College, London | Assistant lecturer | 1972-74 |
| Humboldt State University | Lecturer | 1977-78 |
| St Antony's, Oxford | Alistair Horne Research Fellow | 1987-88 |
| Strathclyde University, Glasgow | Visiting Professor | 1996-2001 |
| Goldsmith's College, London | Proffesorial Fellow | 2000-02 |
Awards and Nominations
[edit]McLynn was shortlisted for the NCR Book Award for Carl Gustav Jung: A Biography
Bibliography
[edit]Books
[edit]| Title | First Published | Publisher | Reissued | Reissued By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France and the Jacobite Rising of 1745 | 1981 | Edinburgh University Press | ||
| The Jacobite Army in England, 1745-46 | 1983 | John Donald Publishers Ltd | ||
| The Jacobites | 1985 | Routledge & Kegan Paul | ||
| Invasion: From the Armada to Hitler | 1987 | Routledge | ||
| Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts | 1988 | Routledge | 2020 | Sharpe Books |
| Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth Century England | 1989 | Routledge | ||
| Stanley: The Making of an African Explorer, 1841-1877 | 1990 | Scarborough House Publishers | ||
| From the Sierras to the Pampas: Richard Burton's Travels in The Americas, 1860-69 | 1991 | Trafalgar Square | ||
| Stanley: Sorcerer's Apprentice | 1992 | Oxford University Press | ||
| Snow upon the Desert: The Life of Sir Richard Burton | 1993 | John Murray Publishers Ltd | ||
| Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa | 1993 | Caroll & Graf Publishers | ||
| Famous Letters: Messages & Thoughts That Shaped Our World | 1993 | Readers Digest Association | ||
| Fitzroy MacLean | 1993 | John Murray Publishers Ltd | ||
| Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography | 1994 | Random House | ||
| Famous Trials: Cases That Made History | 1995 | Readers Digest | ||
| Napoleon: A Biography | 1997 | Arcade Publishing | ||
| Carl Gustav Jung: A Biography | 1997 | Thomas Dunne Books | ||
| 1066: The Year of the Three Battles | 1998 | Johnathan Cape | Pimlico | |
| Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution | 2000 | Basic Books | ||
| Wagons West: The Epic Story of America's Overland Trails | 2002 | Grove Press | ||
| 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World | 2005 | Atlantic Monthly Press | ||
| Lionheart and Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest* | 2006 | Jonathan Cape | ||
| Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor | 2009 | Bodley Head | ||
| Heroes and Villains: Inside the Minds of the Greatest Warriors in History | 2009 | Pegasus | ||
| The Burma Campaign: Disaster Into Triumph 1942-45 | 2010 | Bodley Head | 2011 | Yale University Press |
| Captain Cook: Master of the Seas | 2011 | Yale University Press | ||
| The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381-1926 | 2012 | Random House | ||
| Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World | 2015 | Bodley Head | ||
| Bipolar: The South Pole | 2018 | Crux Publishing | ||
| Bipolar: The North Pole |
*Published in the USA as Richard and John: Kings at War (2007), Da Capo Press
As editor
[edit]Awards and accolades
[edit]- Cheltenham Prize for Literature (1985; for The Jacobite Army in England)[2]
- Shortlisted, McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year (1989, for Charles Edward Stuart)[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Random House Books". Archived from the original on 23 June 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- ^ "January Magazine". Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- ^ "Midlothian, Our Library". Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- 1941 births
- Academics of the University of Strathclyde
- Alumni of the University of London
- Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
- British biographers
- British male journalists
- British military historians
- Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford
- Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
- Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
- Living people
- British male biographers