Ben Macintyre Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Ben Macintyre is a British author that has garnered a reputation for his articles on current affairs in publications like The Times Newspaper.

+Biography

Ben Macintyre was born in 1963 to Angus Macintyre. Ben always prided himself on having very deep roots in Britain, what with his grandfather being associated with the King’s Hussars and his grandmother tracing her lineage to Viscount Netterville.

Ben enjoyed a relatively affluent educational background, having attended institutions like the Abingdon School and Cambridge University. Ben always had a thing for reading but it wasn’t always clear that he would enter publishing. The author definitely garnered a reputation for his journalistic work.

His career took him to Paris, New York, and Washington as he dipped into Current Affairs and dissected the issue of the times.

When he wasn’t writing for newspapers, Ben was partaking in radio and television productions, most of them revolving around notable historical figures, events, and organizations. Ben Macintyre has always had very particular tastes, counting the likes of John le Carre, William Boyd, and Wodehouse amongst his favorite authors.

Whether he is reading for work or for pleasure, Ben enjoys delving into works that tell him something new about the world as it was. And it could be argued that the author began writing because he wanted to give readers this same experience.

Ben has always loved history. He is especially enamored by tales of war and espionage. Spies are of particular interest to him. The author loves espionage because spies bring a lot of intrigue to the table. They allow writers to tell real life stories that are so wondrous and preposterous that they could be accused of being fiction.

Spies also allow writers like Ben Macintyre to delve into those aspects of the human psyche that tend to intrigue most people such as love, loyalty, and adventure. War is also an important aspect of the spy craft.

When Ben took to writing literature, it came as no surprise that spies were the subject he sought to tackle. He loved the mysterious nature of some of the subjects of his books and the fact that their travels allowed him to work with a variety of backdrops.

He also loves the complexity that it takes for human beings to undertake spy craft, specifically the psychological aspects that are necessary for people to forge close bonds and then betray them for the sake of their country.

Ben’s fans will be the first to tell you that his books are just as exciting as any other fictional spy novel. In fact, they are better because the events of the author’s books actually happened. Kim Philby was a real person. He was just as suave and charming as Ben writes in ‘The Great Betrayal’, just as conniving and terrible and self-centered.

Ben’s novels draw attention because he has shown the capacity to find those most interesting and unexpected nuggets of real life historical figures, exposing them to an audience that might not realize just how insane the history of their country is.

Though, while Ben Macintyre’s spy novels are crowd pleasers, it is his war stories that have truly set him apart in the literary community, garnering him numerous accolades from various circles. Ben’s exploration of the history of the SAS was hailed as one of the most memorable and revealing forms of historical literature.

Similar praise was heaped on the author for his exploration of World War One.

It goes without saying that Ben Macintyre’s literary interests lie in the real world. He enjoys latching onto particular historical events and dissecting them until he knows everything there is to learn. And as a journalist of considerable renown, Ben always knows exactly where to go to get his stories.

Few authors have had the privilege of having the SAS give them access to their archive of information as a means of ensuring that their story is told as accurately as possible. Ben’s journalistic instincts grant him the ability to track down difficult sources and to locate obscure documents for the sake of his narrative.

If there is one criticism that has been levied towards Ben Macintyre, it is the fact that he tends to lose himself in his research, and it shows. Ben’s books are normally filled with a little too much detail, and not all the morsels of information in Ben’s books are necessary to the central thread he is weaving.

As such, some readers find Ben’s books a little too taxing to read.

+Operation Mincemeat

The Nazis thought the Allies would unleash their assault against Europe via Greece, possibly even Sardinia. Or rather, the point of operation Mincemeat was to convince the Nazis of this fact, dissuading them from their assumption that the Allies would come by way of Sicily.

The operation was planned by MI5’s Charles Cholmondeley and the British Navy’s Ewen Montagu in 1943 in a London basement office. An adventure-seeking dreamer and a detail-oriented aristocrat, Charles and Ewen were very different people but that is what made them a great team.

The plan, which was equal parts complicated and simple, received the approval of Winston Churchhill and even James Bond’s Ian Flemming. The result was a mission that sounded more like a fictional tale than an actual operation.

This book from Ben Macintyre is a bold undertaking as it explains how a corpse became a spy and was used to give the world an edge against the Nazis.

+Agent Zigzag

Eddie Chapman was one of Britain’s more controversial assets. A charming criminal, Eddie wore more faces that even he seemed to realize, so much so that it was never easy to determine whether he was a villain or a hero, a traitor or a loyal soldier.

Eddie came to Britain in 1941 as a German spy assigned the task of destroying an airplane factory. Eddie chose to reach out to MI5, becoming a double agent that acted as Britain’s eyes and ears inside the German Secret Service.

In fact, Eddie even volunteered to kill Hitler at one point. A highly complex man, Eddie was such an effective double agent that the Nazis awarded him the Iron Cross while the British pardoned all his crimes and made him a decorated war hero.