Alex Kershaw

Born in York, England, in 1966, Kershaw attended University College, Oxford where he studied politics, philosophy and economics.{{cite web|url=http://www.librarything.com/commonknowledge/changelog.php?item=8838&type=2|title=Common Knowledge – History |publisher=librarything.com}} He taught history before working as a journalist for several British newspapers, including The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times.

Kershaw's journalism has appeared in many magazines and newspapers since 1990, varying from investigative pieces and reportage to interviews with subjects ranging from Frank Zappa,{{cite web|url=http://www.afka.net/Mags/The_Guardian.htm#1993May|title=Frank: Fearless and still fighting |work=The Guardian|publisher=afka.net}} Alger Hiss and Garry Kasparov to the boxer Max Schmeling and dozens of World War II veterans.{{cite web|url=http://www.warhistoryonline.com/press-releases/author-historian-alex-kershaw-joins-war-history-online-guest-blogger.html|title=Author & historian Alex Kershaw joins War History Online as Guest Blogger!|work=WAR HISTORY ONLINE|date=3 February 2015}}

The Bedford Boys

While writing a 2002 biography, Blood and Champagne,{{cite web|url=https://icplibrary.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/blood-and-champagne-an-interview-with-alex-kershaw/|title=Blood and Champagne – an interview with Alex Kershaw |work=International Center of Photography Library|date=22 October 2013 }} about Robert Capa, the celebrated war photographer,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/07/28/blood-and-champagne-the-life-and-times-of-robert-capa|title=Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa|date=28 July 2003|magazine=The New Yorker}} Kershaw came across the story of Bedford, Virginia and its sacrifice on D-Day, 6 June 1944, on Dog Green sector of Omaha beach. The resulting book, The Bedford Boys, 2003, became a New York Times best-seller.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/books/chapters/1102-1st-kershaw.html | work=The New York Times | first=Alex | last=Kershaw | title=The Bedford Boys | date=2 November 2003}}

The Longest Winter, The Few, Escape from the Deep

Kershaw's next book, about the Battle of the Bulge, The Longest Winter, 2004, focused in particular on World War II's most decorated platoon, an I&R unit commanded by 20-year-old Lyle Bouck Jr. of the 99th Infantry Division.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/books/06bbox.html?pagewanted=print&position=&_r=0 | work=The New York Times | first=Bill | last=Goldstein | title=Newly Released | date=6 January 2005}} It was followed by other titles: The Few, 2006, the story of eight American pilots who fought illegally in the Battle of Britain;{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6525566|title='The Few' and the Battle over Britain|date=22 November 2006|publisher=NPR}} Escape from the Deep, 2008, the tale of the only successful escape from a submerged American submarine, the USS Tang, without surface assistance in late October 1944;{{cite news|url=http://books.usatoday.com/book/alex-kershaw-escape-from-the-deep-the-epic-story-of-a-legendary-submarine-and-her-courageous-crew/r107954|title=Escape From the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew|work=USA TODAY Life | first1=Don|last1=Oldenburg}} and The Envoy, 2010, an account of Raoul Wallenberg's rescue efforts in Hungary during the Holocaust, based on extensive interviews with survivors saved by Wallenberg.{{cite web|url=http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/envoy-epic-rescue-last-jews-europe-desperate-closing-months-world-war-ii|title=a book review by Charles Weinblatt: The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II|publisher=nyjournalofbooks.com}}

Television and film

Kershaw has also worked as a screenwriter and in television,{{cite web|url=http://www.ambienceofmedia.com/2009/06/02/duncan-jones-to-escape-from-the-deep/|title=Duncan Jones to Escape from the Deep|publisher=ambienceofmedia.com}} penning an award-winning 2004 documentary for Arte on Bobby Kennedy.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449948/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1|title=Alex Kershaw|publisher=Internet Movie Database}} Several of his books have been optioned by Hollywood, including The Few which was selected as the Military Book Club's first-ever book of the year in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2969641&mesg_id=2969738|title=Democratic Underground – After Words: Alex Kershaw, author of "The Few: Battle of Britain" interviewed by Jack Pulwers – Democratic Underground|publisher=democraticunderground.com}} Kershaw has appeared as a narrator in several documentaries, including the "Battle of the Bulge" episode of When Weather Changed History, "WWII IN 3D",{{cite web|url=http://english.cri.cn/7146/2011/05/27/2702s639815.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213214707/http://english.cri.cn/7146/2011/05/27/2702s639815.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 February 2015|title= 3D Used in WWII|work=cri.cn}} the History Channel's "The Last Days of WWII",{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449948/|title=Alex Kershaw|publisher=Internet Movie Database}} 2014's PBS Masters' 200th anniversary episode, "Salinger",{{cite web|url=http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/press-release/american-masters-2014-season-salinger/featured-film-interviewees/|title=Featured Film Interviewees |work=Pressroom}} and PBS's "D-Day 360".{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/d-day-360-historic-battle-recreated-for-70th-anniversary-with-cutting-edge-technology|title='D-Day 360': Historic battle recreated for 70th anniversary with cutting-edge technology|author=Hollie McKay|publisher=Fox News Channel|date=27 May 2014}}

The Liberator

His 2012 book, The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau, tells the story of Texas-born Felix Sparks, an officer in the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, who participated in four amphibious invasions in Europe and commanded the Thunderbird unit that liberated Dachau on 29 April 1945.{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/review-the-liberator-by-alex-kershaw.htm|title=Review: The Liberator by Alex Kershaw|work=History Net: Where History Comes Alive – World & US History Online|date=4 March 2013}} It has been praised for its gritty realism{{cite magazine|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2012/10/30/the-liberator-a-users-guide-to-hell/|title=The Liberator: A User's Guide to Hell|magazine=Time | date=30 October 2012}} and described by the Wall Street Journal as an "exceptional chronicle of one soldier's experience in WWII."{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203846804578102941114709024|title=Book Review: The Liberator – WSJ|author=Jonathan W. Jordan|date=16 November 2012|work=The Wall Street Journal}}

Netflix released The Liberator as a four hour series, penned by Jeb Stuart, in November 2020.{{cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/history-developing-miniseries-based-world-650095|title=History Developing Miniseries Based on World War II Hero Felix Sparks (Exclusive)|work=The Hollywood Reporter | date=23 October 2013}}

Avenue of Spies and The First Wave

Kershaw's Avenue of Spies, a New York Times best seller, published in August 2015, tells the story of the Avenue Foch in Paris in World War II, focusing in particular on Gestapo officer Helmut Knochen and an American doctor and his family.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Avenue-Spies-Espionage-Resistance-Nazi-Occupied-ebook/dp/B00PEPR6QW|title=Amazon.com: Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris eBook: Alex Kershaw: Kindle Store|date=4 August 2015|publisher=Crown}} Kershaw's most recent book, The First Wave, a national best-seller, was published in 2019 to mark the 75th anniversary of D Day.

Lecturing and battlefield touring

Since 2012, Kershaw has led many battlefield tours of Europe. He has an honorary doctorate in military history from Norwich University and is a Board director of Friends of the National WWII Memorial.{{cite web|url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/life/2014-12-20/world-war-ii-museum-tour-visits-battle-bulge-locations-70-years-later|title=World War II Museum tour visits Battle of Bulge locations 70 years later|work=The Augusta Chronicle}} He also appears at conferences and events, in particular to commemorate the Second World War.{{cite web|url=http://geaugalibrary.net/newsite/about-us/foundation1/28-gcpl-news/426-alex-kershaw-author-of-wwii-nonfiction-is-2014-distinguished-speaker|title=Alex Kershaw, author of WWII nonfiction, is 2014 Distinguished Speaker|author=Lori Weber|publisher=geaugalibrary.net|access-date=13 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213221230/http://geaugalibrary.net/newsite/about-us/foundation1/28-gcpl-news/426-alex-kershaw-author-of-wwii-nonfiction-is-2014-distinguished-speaker|archive-date=13 February 2015|url-status=dead}}

• Jack London: A Life St Martins Press, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0312181192}} {{OCLC|0312181191}}
• Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa. Macmillan, 2002. Thomas Dunne, 2003; {{ISBN|978-0312315641}}. Da Capo Press, 2004; {{ISBN|978-0306813566}}. Da Capo Press, 2006; {{ISBN|0-306-81356-4}}; {{OCLC|56133834}}.
• The Bedford Boys, Da Capo Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-306-81167-7}} {{OCLC|52133420}}
• The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon, Da Capo Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-306-81304-1}} {{OCLC|57045202}}
• The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press, 2006. {{ISBN|0-306-81303-3}} {{OCLC|74284748}}
• Escape from the Deep: A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew, Perseus Books, 2008. {{ISBN|0-306-81519-2}} {{OCLC|176894607}}
• The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe, Da Capo Press, 2010. {{ISBN|0-306-82043-9}} {{OCLC|656544874}}
• To Save a People, Hutchinson. UK edition
• The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau, Crown Broadway, October 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-307-88799-3}} {{OCLC|793503440}}
• Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris, Crown, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0804140034}} {{OCLC|910239494}}
• Kershaw, Alex, Richard Ernsberger, and Jennifer N. Pritzker. The General: William Levine, Citizen Soldier and Liberator. 2016. {{ISBN|0989792889}} {{OCLC|960030901}}
• The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II. Dutton, 2019. {{ISBN|9780451490056}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://alexkershaw.com}}
• {{C-SPAN|1006053}}
• [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/front-center-john-callaway-special-edition-alex-kershaw/ Interview] on The Longest Winter at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on 9 February 2005
• [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/alex-kershaw-few/ Interview] on The Few at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on 14 November 2006
• [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/alex-kershaw-escape-deep/ Interview] on Escape from the Deep at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on 15 May 2008
• [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/alex-kershaw-liberator/ Lecture] on The Liberators at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library on 20 March 2014

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Category:1966 births

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from York

Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford

Category:English male journalists

Category:English male non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century English journalists

Category:20th-century English male writers

Category:21st-century English journalists

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