Kenneth Pletcher
Kenneth Pletcher
Former Encyclopædia Britannica Editor
BIOGRAPHY

Ken Pletcher was Senior Editor, Geography and History for Encyclopædia Britannica. He holds an M.A. in Japanese studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As part of his master's program, he spent an academic year studying in Kobe, Japan. He also received a B.A. from the same institution in political science, with a minor in Asian studies. He worked at Britannica from 1979 to 2016, when he retired.

He edited The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations that Changed the Modern World and other books for the Britannica Educational Publishing imprint.

Primary Contributions (84)
Devi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala
Devi Lal was an Indian politician and government official who founded the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) political party and was instrumental in the formation of Haryana as a state separate from Punjab state in northwestern India. He twice served (1977–79 and 1987–89) as Haryana’s chief minister…
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Publications (1)
The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations That Changed the Modern World (Turning Points in History)
The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations That Changed the Modern World (Turning Points in History) (February 2010)

The nature of the maiden voyage is deeply captivating. Though the oceans still hold vast opportunities for uncharted exploration, our land resources have been bravely explored and charted for hundreds of years. Very few places remain mysterious and untamable to man, and this transformation is due to imaginative and fearless explorers. Readers will devour these tales of explorers who have pushed geographic and personal boundaries, leaving virtually no corner of the globe off limits.