Thor Frohn-Nielsen
B.A. (Honours) University of Victoria, M.A. University of British Columbia
Thor Frohn-Nielsen's interests in history go back to growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, and having an air raid shelter outside his family apartment. Living in East Africa and England during his teenage years deepened that curiosity and led him to degrees in modern European and Canadian history at UVic and UBC.
Though he has travelled widely through many parts of the world, Thor is an unabashed Europhile and spends as much time there as possible--usually seeking out interesting historical sites, basking in good food and wine, or pursuing his other passions of modern art and old sports cars. Thor came to Kwantlen in the mid-1980s and teaches the introductory Canadian as well as courses on modern Europe and Great Britain. His academic interest over the last number of years is English cultural and social history in the first half of the twentieth century. He assisted his colleague Tom Thorner with the two Canadian history volumes A Few Acres of Snow and A Country Nourished on Self-Doubt.
Favourite Historical Novels
- Louis De Bernieres - Captain Corelli's Mandolin
- Gunter Grass - The Tin Drum
- Jean Paul Sartre - Roads to Freedom trilogy
- Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
- Timothy Findley - Famous Last Words
- Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front
- Robert Graves - I, Claudius
- Charles Dickens - Hard Times
- Jack Kerouac - On the Road
- Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent
- Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
- Boris Pasternak - Doctor Zhivago
Favourite Historical Movies
- Charlie Chaplin - Modern Times
- Fritz Lang - Metropolis
- Francis Ford Coppola - Apocalypse Now
- John Boorman - Hope and Glory
- Franc Roddam - Quadrophenia
- David Lean - Lawrence of Arabia
- Michael Curtiz - Casablanca
'Must See' Historical Sites
- The Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt. tombs of the pharohs
- Stourhead, Lincolnshire, UK. The perfect mannerist country garden designed by Capability Brown
- 'Goodwood Revival', Sussex England (every September). Historic sports and racing car races in their original setting.
- Oradour, France. Village left untouched after it was destroyed by the Nazis.
- Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden. Museum dedicated exclusively to the perfectly preserved Vasa ship.
- Auschwitz/Birkenau, southern Poland. Nazi death camp.
- Hitler's far eastern headquarters, northern Poland.
- Venice, Italy. A city so steeped in history, and so brilliantly preserved, that the whole place is a 'site'.
- The Acropolis, Athens, Greece. Aesthetically unparalleled and the heart of ancient Athens.
- Taj Mahal, India. Architecture at its most ethereal yet balanced. A discreet little tomb for the perfect wife.
