Mary Platt Parmele (July 14, 1843 – May 26, 1911) was an American historian and writer.
Early life
Parmele was born in Albany, New York and educated in New York. She was the daughter of Zephaniah Platt and Cornelia Jenkins Platt. Her father was the Michigan Attorney General, and her grandfather was U.S. Representative Jonas Platt.
Career
From 1892 Parmele contributed philosophical articles and short stories to reviews and magazines. Her most successful books were a number of "Short History" books of various countries written in the late 19th and early 20th century. Her "Short History of..." books included volumes on France, Russia, England, United States, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Her style was appreciated by critics as readable, lively, and comprehensive.
Parmele ventured beyond straight historical writing with Ariel, or the Author's World (1892), in which a character has the power to transport himself to a planet orbiting Earth, "created by atoms obeying the wills of writers", thus inhabited by fictional creations such as Frankenstein's monster. Parmele was critical of the claims of Christian Science. In 1904, she published a book that argued against the claims of Christian Science.
Publications
Answered in the Negative (1892, two stories)
The Evolution of an Empire: A Brief Historical Sketch of France (1894)
A Short History of England (1898)
A Short History of France (1898)
A Short History of Germany (1898)
A Short History of Spain (1898)
A Short History of the United States (1898)
Ariel, or the Author's World (1898, chapbook)
