Fiction
'Saul David has already shown himself to be a first rate historian, now he proves to be a masterly story-teller...'
About Saul
Saul David is a historian, broadcaster and the author of several critically-acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction.
His history books include The Indian Mutiny (shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature), Zulu (a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year), and Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport (an Amazon History Book of the Year). Alan Furst commented in the New York Times Book Review: 'Tense and riveting...This is the achievement of a masterly, first-rate historian.' The film rights for Operation Thunderbolt were bought by Hollywood's Participant Media and used in the making of the motion picture 'Seven Days in Entebbe' which was released worldwide in the spring of 2018. The film is co-produced by Working Title, directed by José Padilha, and stars Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl and Eddie Marsan.
Saul's latest work of non-fiction, The Force: The legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII's Mission Impossible, was published in the US and Canada on 3 September 2019. It has been hailed as a "monumental achievement" (Douglas Brinkley) and "an essential part of anyone's library" (Doug Stanton).
Saul has also written three bestselling historical novels, Zulu Hart, Hart of Empire and, published in 2018, The Prince and the Whitechapel Murders.
Saul is Professor of Military History at the University of Buckingham.
News & Events
Latest news and planned events from Saul.
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31.01.2020
Saul will give the first talk on his new book, Crucible of Hell: Okinawa – The Last Great Battle of the Second World War – at Chorleywood War Memorial Hall, Common Road, Chorleywood, WD3 5LN, at 7pm on Tuesday 7 April 2020. The event is organised by Chiltern Bookshops. For more details and to book tickets: https://chilternbookshops.co.uk/event/saul-david-crucible-of-hell/
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20.01.2020
Historian David Reynolds has praised Saul’s new book, out in April 2020. ‘Gripping, even gruesome, yet deeply moving,’ he writes, ‘Crucible of Hell sweeps us masterfully from a coral charnel house in the Pacific to the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima.’
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16.11.2019
Another wonderful review of The Force has appeared in the Wall Street Journal. “A very fine book,” writes Alexander Rose. “[David] has both a knack with the pen and a nose for a thrilling tale… Special forces are always cool and books relating their exploits are always exciting, especially when related in so masterly a style… Readers should exult in ‘The Force’, whose heroic subjects deserve to be forever remembered.”
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16.11.2019
The Winnipeg Free Press hailed Saul’s new book as “a fitting tribute to the heroism of these soldiers… While David rightly celebrates the heroism of the Force, he never loses sigh of the grimness and tragedy of war. His account brings wartime experience – the gruelling training, the ferocity of combat – vividly to life with an immediacy that is breathtaking.”
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29.09.2019
Saul’s new book The Force has been praised by Paul Dickson in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Describing the book as “riveting and harrowing”, Dickson adds: “David does a remarkable job in bringing these rugged, non-conforming men back to life…[He] has written an important, highly engaging work that is, as novelist Raymond Chandler once wrote of a book he was reviewing, unputdownable.”
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20.09.2019
Saul’s forthcoming book, Crucible of Hell: Okinawa – The Stalingrad of the Pacific, has been sold to Chinese publishing company Beijing Huaxia Winshare Books, and will be available in mainland China from April 2020, the 75th anniversary of the Okinawa landings.
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20.09.2019
Saul’s new book, The Force: The Legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII’s Mission Impossible, is now available in the US. https://www.amazon.com/Force-Legendary-Special-Mission-Impossible/dp/0316414530
Saul spoke about the book on Fox & Friends: https: https://video.foxnews.com/v/6084614999001/#sp=show-clips
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2.08.2019
There are still places available on Saul’s 1-year MA in Military History by Research programme in London for the University of Buckingham. Click here for details.https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/humanities/ma/militaryhistory
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12.07.2019
Saul’s new book is described by the influential US trade journal Publishers Weekly as an “action-packed tale.” It adds: “David works the soldiers; individual stories into the narrative, adding heart to the derring-do. This thrilling history will captivate readers.” PW review_THE FORCE
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10.06.2019
Another great quote has just come in for Saul’s new book, The Force, out in September:
“A mesmerizing read that blends strategy with tactics and traditions, narrating in gritty detail the 1943 mountain battle by a small, dauntless American-Canadian force. This was the battlefield birth of our Special Operations Forces. A compelling tale of human valor, doubts, mistakes and victory, honestly told.”
—Bing West, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, author of The Village and coauthor with Jim Mattis of Callsign Chaos
Broadcasting
An experienced TV and radio broadcaster.
Saul has presented and appeared in history programmes for all the major TV channels and is a regular on Radio 4. Visit the Broadcasting page for a full list of credits. In 2019 he appears in programmes on the US Presidents at war, the Second World War in Colour, and Prince Albert, and presents part of a series on great inventions ('Revolutions')